


Death and the Maiden

by OokamiKasumi



Category: Zombie-Loan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-21
Updated: 2014-01-21
Packaged: 2018-01-09 14:08:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 56,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1146894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OokamiKasumi/pseuds/OokamiKasumi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Due to her Death Sight, her shinigami eyes, Michiru Kita lost damned near everything important to her - except her virginity. (ZxM) (Complete)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

' **Zombie-Loan'** characters, terms, and locations are property of **Peach-Pit** **.  
** This story was written for Personal enjoyment. No money was made from this work.

* * *

**~ After ~**

_Once upon a time, at the brink of the world's end_...

In a place of silvery mist with no walls, ceiling, or floor in the shadow of the towering ornately carved double-doors that separated the spirit realm and the mortal world, stood a small girl with moss green eyes and pale lavender hair that was raggedly cut below her chin. Her slim, delicate body was barely covered by long strips of free-floating iridescent fabric.

Beside her stood a tall and imposing red-haired soul reaper clothed in black leather and wrappings of dirty strips of white fabric. Draped across his shoulders was a tattered leather cape with a collar of long midnight red feathers. Resting casually against his shoulder was the long clotted blood handle of a massive scythe. The long curving blade of purest silver, crowned by a bladed crescent moon, arched behind him.

Between the two hovered a small spirit no larger than a doll draped in a hooded robe of pale lavender. On its head was a mop of dirty blond hair with one red eye covered by a patch.

The doll-sized, viciously grinning spirit stared hard at the girl. "To return to the mortal world, you have two options. The first is to be reborn and relive this entire life. Should you choose this route, your power as a singularity will be stripped from you, and your memories will be erased. In short, your time will be reset from the very beginning as nothing more than an ordinary human."

The towering red-haired reaper narrowed his gaze on the small spirit.

The spirit averted his gaze from the violet-eyed reaper and coughed. "More or less..."

The girl blinked. "So, if I'm reborn, I'll get to be a normal girl? I won't be able to destroy the world anymore?"

The spirit nodded. "You will start life over again in a mortal human body, and yes, your power to destroy the world will be gone; you will no longer be a singularity. Nor will you retain any memories of this life."

The girl rubbed her nose thoughtfully. "Oh, well...!"

The spirit cleared its non-existent throat. "The second option is to simply return to your world as you are now, with your power intact. However, the world will not be the quite the same. Everything related to Z-Loan _and you_ will be erased from their memories. _Only you_ will retain any memory of your life with them, and your time on this plane."

The small girl flinched.

The small spirit laughed nastily. "Is this choice too cruel for you?"

The reaper glared hard at the little spirit and shifted his gleaming scythe from his shoulder to his hands.

The spirit visibly flinched, but he kept his gaze pinned on the girl. "So, which will you choose?"

 

* * *

**~ One ~**

Still dressed in her school uniform; a burgundy turtleneck dress with a mauve sailor-styled short jacket, Michiru Kita strode across the creaky wood floor of the Black Dorm's decrepit dining room. She set her dinner bowl and chop sticks down on a table that was little more than boards set across saw horses, but the white table cloth was clean and creased from being pressed. The dining room itself was small, the saw-horse table and its eight miss-matched wooden chairs taking up most of it.

A battered tile-top counter across the far end of the room was all that divided the dining area from the kitchen area. The sinks and squealing copper pipes dated back to the turn of the century, but the polished steel gas stove and massive stainless steel refrigerator were less than a year old.

Despite the crumbling and faded red plaster walls with its creaky, uneven flooring, the dining room was bright from the early November sunset spilling through the row of aged windows that made up the entire back wall. The view from said windows however, was more than a little depressing; a weed-filled graveyard that surrounded the entire building.

Once upon a time, the ramshackle dormitory had been a chapel for the aged Victorian Catholic school that Michiru attended; Kokuba Academy. As such, the school was only a short walk beyond the tall wrought iron fence guarding the cemetery surrounding the dormitory. She'd be graduating next spring - if she lived that long.

With a small huff of impatience, Michiru took a seat in one of the miss-matched battered chairs. _I'll worry about the future when it gets here._ She picked up her chopsticks and shook her head to whisk the long forelocks of her hair from in front of her over-sized round glasses.

Several of her friends in class had commented on how the odd lighting in both the dorm and the school tended to make her sandy-blonde hair look oddly... _lavender_. They had also remarked that with the way her forelocks were long in the front, yet the back was so much shorter, it looked as though her hair had been hacked off with a meat cleaver.

Little did her classmates guess, it actually _had_. A meat cleaver in the hands of an insane zombie teacher had done the original damage to her hair by shearing off one of her waist-length braids at the jaw-line. Chika's sword in her own hands had done the rest. She hadn't been able to find the scissors.

That had been almost two years ago.

Since then, her forelocks had grown well past her breasts, and the back past her shoulders. More importantly though, the strangeness that had taken over her life -zombie people, zombie animals, ghosts, astral hands, ectoplasmic weapons, ferrymen for the dead, werewolves, sorcerers, and _shinigami_ reapers- had become an almost daily occurrence.

With a small smile at her dinner companion, Michiru took up a small morsel of chicken and rice in her chopsticks and held it up to the small doll-sized _shinigami,_ reaper that sat by her chipped tea cup. Despite the fact that the reaper was little more than a bandaged head revealing only one violet eye with a mop of blood red hair, a tattered cape, and a pair of shoes, Michiru found him adorable.

The tiny man opened a mouth normally hidden by his facial bandages to take in the bite, and scowled while chewing.

Michiru didn't blame him for scowling. Under normal circumstances, the reaper was a tall and menacing winged figure swathed in bandages. Draped in black leather and blood-black feathers, he wielded a scythe twice as long as he was tall. His purpose was to take the lives of those unsanctioned to live; corpses that refused to stay dead; zombies. Unfortunately, his core, what passed for a soul among his kind, had been stolen, reducing the powerful spirit into little more than a doll.

In trade for assistance in getting his core back, he had agreed to help the members of Z-Loan in their quest to do exactly the same job, hunt down unsanctioned zombies, and the occasional ghost.

The reaper had proved extremely helpful - to _her_ anyway. He had taken it upon himself to train her to use her cursed eyes, her _shinigami_ sight that saw death creeping up on the unaware by way of a shadowy ring that appeared around the throat of the unsuspecting victim. Through the reaper's coaching, she'd gotten quite proficient at seeking and finding the black-ringed undead hiding among the living.

While she still wasn't a fighter, by any means, she was no longer a burden to her two teammates, Shito and Chika. All she had to do was take off her glasses and concentrate, and her eyes would automatically seek out any zombie nearby. At the moment, she was still limited to a six-hundred meter radius, but that was widening every day.

Despite the fact that her sight unnerved her- Who in their right mind would _want_ to know that someone was about to die? -she was grateful that she could finally do her part to help pay off not only her teammates' debts for their loans on life, but her own debt as well.

That zombie teacher hadn't just cut her hair, she'd practically cut Michiru in half. Because of this, she currently owed Bekko, the local ferryman and proprietor of Z-Loan, for her literal lease on life.

Michiru passed the reaper another morsel and smiled. He was so adorable; especially when he was trying to be fierce. However, the bitter truth was that sooner or later, the reaper's core would be returned to him and he would resume his duties as a slayer of the undead. Sooner or later, the little reaper would leave her behind.

She would miss him, terribly.

Her teammate, the silver-haired, lanky, and loud, Chika Akatsuki flopped into the battered chair on her right. His arms thumped down, vibrating the boards that made up the table. His golden eyes narrowed on the tiny doll-like figure seated beside Michiru's bowl. "What kind of stupid name for a grim reaper is Zarame; ' _Sugar Candy'_?"

The tiny man scowled ferociously at Chika and spoke in his deep penetrating voice. "That's _not_ my damned name!"

Michiru frowned at the little reaper. "It's not?"

"Eh?" Chika frowned at Michiru. "What'd he say?"

Michiru rolled her eyes. For some odd reason, everyone claimed that the reaper spoke in high-pitched incomprehensible squeaks. She had no clue what they were talking about. That's not at all what he sounded like to her. "He says it's not his name."

The reaper turned his violet glare on Michiru. "That damned brat of a supposed assistant gave me that god-awful nick-name. Since no one could understand me, everyone just took her word for it."

Michiru blinked. "He says it's a nick-name that Miss Koume came up with." She frowned at the tiny man. "Why would she do something so mean?"

The reaper rolled his one visible eye. "Because she hates my guts. Why else?"

Michiru shook her head. That cute little pig-tailed girl hated him? It was kind of difficult to believe that such an emotionless waif was capable of expressing any feelings at all, never mind hate. She barely spoke above a monotone and _never_ smiled. "Why would Miss Koume hate you?"

The reaper snorted and theoretically crossed his less than visible arms. "Take a wild guess." He lifted his chin. "Here, I'll even give you a clue. What do I do?" He cleared his throat. "Under normal circumstances."

Michiru frowned. "You reap souls...?"

The reaper lifted a tiny red brow over his only visible eye. "Now why would someone have a problem with that?"

Michiru shook her head. "The only reason I can think of, is if they didn't want someone to be...reaped?"

The reaper nodded. "Keep going."

Chika scowled. "Che...! Never mind all that crap!" He flicked his fingers at Michiru's temple.

Michiru ducked back, just barely avoiding the flick. "Hey...!"

Chika waved at the tiny grim reaper. "If it's not Sugar Candy, then what _is_ his name?"

The tiny spirit turned to Chika and loosed a low rumbling growl. "None of your god-damned business, you interfering corpse-brat!"

Michiru twitched, just a little. No way was she repeating _that_! "Um... He says he doesn't want to say."

Chika's dark brows rose. "Fine." His lips curled into a vicious smile. "Then Mr. Sugar Candy it is!" He bounced out of the chair and tromped over to the far end of the room to set both elbows on the long counter that bordered the kitchen area. "Hey, Koyomi! What's for dinner?"

The ever cheerful, dark-haired, Koyomi Yoimachi, turned from stirring the huge wok balanced on top of the gleaming gas stove against the back wall to fill a large white bowl. She was a school alumni, having graduated with honors two years ago, and currently in her second year of college. She was majoring in anthropology and mythological studies at the neighboring Kokuba University.

Koyomi grinned at Chika, the curling pig-tails of her chocolate hair bouncing against her shoulders, and stretched out her hand to offer Chika the heaping bowl and some chopsticks. "Dinner is chicken, rice, and veggies!" Her maroon red track suit strained across her full bust-line, broad hips, and rounded bottom. "Eat up!"

Chika took the bowl. "Yeah, thanks." He headed back to the table with a sour twist of his lips. "Damn, white meat again."

The reaper loosed a low liquid growl. "When I return to my proper self, I am definitely going to beat that little shit into the ground!"

Michiru was kind of relieved. While the threat was probably real, a beating implied that Chika would at least survive the experience. He _wouldn't_ survive being reaped. _However_... "If you hate being called Mr. Sugar Candy so much, why don't you just tell us your name?"

The reaper huffed. "Names have power, idiot fledgling. I'm not about to give one of the walking dead my name! Hell only knows what he'll do with it."

Michiru slumped where she sat. Why did men have to be so... _difficult_? She took a deep breath to steady her nerves. _Okay, let's try this again._ She lifted her head and eyed the tiny man. "So, how about giving us something close, something you don't mind us calling you by?"

The reaper looked away and frowned, though it wasn't exactly easy to tell with his face mostly covered. He turned back and his one red eye focused on her. "You can call me Kurou, _Crow_."

Michiru blinked. "Oh, after the bird?" It made sense. The first time she'd seen him he'd had huge black wings. Oddly, the second time she'd seen him, not counting his current tiny form, he hadn't had wings, just a whole lot of feathers around his collar and a long black leather cape.

Kurou nodded, then looked away. "My father was a _tengu_ , a bird spirit from the crow line."

Michiru's mouth fell open in shock. "You have a father?"

Kurou rolled his one violet eye. " _Of course_ I have a father and a mother too! How the hell do you _think_ I happened?"

Michiru winced. Truthfully, she'd kind of assumed that he'd sort of just... _poofed_ into existence. He was a _spirit_ after all.

Kurou narrowed his eye at her. "Look, I may be just a spirit now, but I was born with two parents just like every other living being. I didn't just poof into existence."

Michiru stared at him wide-eyed. _Oh God, don't tell me he's telepathic_?

Kurou heaved a sigh and tilted his head. "No, I'm not telepathic." He snorted. "You're just _that_ easy to read." He shook his head. "Can we finish eating now?"

"Oh, yeah, sure...!" Michiru hastily plucked more food from her bowl and fed it the reaper.

Kurou chewed for a bit then his visible eye narrowed. "How about a bath after dinner?"

Michiru blinked. "A bath...?" Well, this _was_ one of the nights the guys got the shower room, and the girls got the bathing room with the extra deep stone tub. The building might be falling down around their ears, but the hot water supply was practically endless, making the huge tub the dorm's one true luxury. She smiled. "Sure, why not?"

Kurou's eye creased in what passed for one of his smiles. "Excellent."

"You're not taking baths with _that_ , are you?" The voice was cool, smooth, slightly accented, and right next to Michiru's left ear.

"Eh...?" She stiffened and turned sharply.

Her other teammate, the black-haired, burgundy-eyed, and painfully elegant, Shito Tachibana was seated in the chair on her left. He held a bowl in his left hand and a pair of expensive teak chopsticks in his right. He'd had somehow gotten his dinner and slid into the chair without her noticing that he'd even entered the room.

She frowned at him, refusing to show that he'd unnerved her with his stealth - again. "What's wrong with that?"

Shito stared at the tiny reaper with narrowed eyes. "Because you shouldn't be bathing with unrelated males. It's indecent, especially when you're still a virgin."

Her face burning with embarrassment, Michiru lunged from her chair to cover Shito's mouth with both her hands. "Don't say that word!"

Shito's brows lifted. "What word?" His voice was muffled by her hands, but his words were still fairly clear - so was his smile. "Virgin...?"

Michiru's face got even hotter. She pressed harder. "Stop saying that!"

"Oh come on, gopher...!" Chika dropped heavily into the chair on Michiru's right side and set his dinner bowl down with a thump. He grinned. "It's _so_ obvious that you're a virrrrr-gin."

"Eep!" Michiru twisted all the way around to cover Chika's mouth. "Don't...!"

Chika caught her by the wrists, stopping her hands only inches from his grinning lips. "Don't what? Say you're a virrr~gin?"

"Stop it!" Michiru twisted and pulled, struggling to reach Chika's mouth. "Stop saying that!"

Utterly ignored, the tiny reaper conjured a miniature scythe, hopped up onto the edge of Michiru's bowl, and speared a hunk of chicken. His mouth opened impossibly wide and he shoved the hunk of chicken in, chewing with gusto.

Michiru continued to struggle with Chika. "You're so mean!"

Shito snorted, set his elbow on the table then set his chin on his upraised hand. "The more you try to stop him, the more he's going to do it."

Chika nodded. "He's right you know." His grin turned positively evil. "Virgin! Virgin! Virrrr~gin!"

"You...!" Michiru growled and kicked at Chika's shins. "Cut it out!"

Chika jerked his legs to the side and laughed. "Oh, dirty fighting - virgin!"

At that moment, the tall, brash, and muscular Aso Sotetsu ducked under the door's lintel and stepped into the dorm dining room. Aso was another alumnus who'd graduated two years ago, but instead of attending the university, he'd gotten a job as a cook in a nearby beer and soba shop.

As usual, Aso's hair was a mop of heavily dyed red and blond, though the roots were clearly black, and he sported a leather eye-patch. His pale blue shirt was little more than a rag with the sleeves torn off and the buttons utterly missing, but it was tucked into scrupulously pressed black cargo pants. The tall man frowned slightly. "Who's a virgin?"

Chika and Shito spoke at the same time. "Kita."

Aso blinked. "Yeah, so?" He wandered over in Koyomi's direction.

Michiru wilted, her hands going limp in Chika's grasp. "You guys are awful."

Snickering, Chika let her go. "Ever since you grew something of a backbone, you're so much fun to play with."

Michiru sank into her chair and stuck her tongue out at her tormentor.

Dark haired Shito snorted. "As if you even know what to do with that?"

Michiru blinked, confused. "Do with what?"

Shito, Chika, and the tiny reaper all rolled their respective eyes.

Aso leaned over the counter and smiled at Koyomi. "What's for dinner, pretty?"

Koyomi looked up at Aso then ducked her head. Her cheeks flushed a warm pink. "Um, Nothing special, just chicken, and rice with vegetables." She held out a heaping bowl.

Aso took the bowl and winked. "Not true. Everything you make is special."

Chika curled his lip at Aso and Koyomi. He leaned behind Michiru toward Shito. "When did those two become all...mushy and stuff?"

Michiru smiled at the couple wistfully. She hoped that someday, someone would think she was special too. "Oh, Koyomi has liked him all along, but Aso didn't notice until after our trip to China. Isn't it sweet?"

Chika slouched back in his chair and spoke very dryly. "Yeah, just watching it is giving me cavities." He turned to his bowl and started shoveling food into his mouth.

Michiru turned to her bowl, only to discover that her bowl seemed to contain only rice and vegetables. She frowned. _What the_...? She dug a bit with her chopsticks. Yep every last morsel of chicken was gone.

The tiny reaper burped - loudly.

Eyes wide she looked sharply over at Kurou.

The reaper's stomach was hugely engorged. His eye closed and a smile formed behind his bandages. "Good."

Defeated, Michiru dug into her rice and vegetables.

Aso clomped over to the table and scraped back a chair directly across from Michiru. "So what was this about Michiru-chan being a virgin?" He sat with a heavy thump.

Groaning and hot-faced, Michiru sank into her chair with her bowl. "Would you stop with that word already? Please...?"

Holding a delicate and clearly ancient Chinese tea cup with both hands in the formal manner, Shito's burgundy eyes narrowed. "Miss Kita has foolishly been bathing with _that_." He nodded toward the doll-like reaper sitting by Michiru's tea cup.

Chika promptly choked on his mouthful. "She... _what_?" He cleared his throat and scowled. "Well, I knew she slept with him..."

Shito whipped around to stare at Chika. "What...?"

Chika rolled his eyes. "As in, she tucks him under the covers with her."

Aso swallowed his mouthful and snorted. "Bathing or sleeping, I don't see the big deal." He smiled slyly at the tiny reaper. "It's not as if he's big enough to _do_ anything."

The tiny reaper glared back at him and growled.

Chika blinked. "You have a point." He also turned to grin at the tiny reaper. "He doesn't even make a medium-sized dildo."

The tiny reaper conjured a miniature scythe and stabbed at Chika's hand. "Bastard...!"

Chika laughed and pulled back his hand. "Oh, feeling sensitive, are we?"

Michiru tilted her head to one side and frowned. "What's a...dildo?" She'd heard it mentioned before by some of her female classmates, but when she'd asked, they always changed the subject.

Kurou froze in mid-stab to stare at her.

Aso and Chika blinked at her wide-eyed, then ducked their heads to snicker into their sleeves.

Michiru's frown deepened. "What? Is it some kind of secret?"

Shito sighed and shook his head. "It is a toy used by women who are _not_ virgins."

Michiru puzzled over that. "A...toy?" Then the rest of Shito's sentence sank in. Her face heated once again. "And what does it have to do with... _that_?"

Chika's snickers became outright laughter. "Ask..." He gasped in a breath. "Ask Koyomi!"

Koyomi dropped into the chair beside Aso, sitting across from Michiru. "Ask me what?" She lifted her bowl and took a bite.

Michiru leaned forward and set her elbows on the table. "What's a dildo?"

Koyomi spat her food onto the table.

Michiru pulled back just in time to avoid the splatter.

Chika laughed so hard he fell out of his chair to roll on the floor.

Aso dropped his head on the table and struggled to bury his laughter in his arms.

Shito calmly sipped his tea, but a smile played at the corner of his mouth.

Koyomi's chin abruptly dropped to her chest. A moment later, she lifted her head. Her brown eyes had gone ice blue and her gaze narrowed.

The tiny reaper stiffened. "Crap!" He flew up to grab Michiru by the sailor-style collar on her mauve jacket then hauled her up out of the chair with determined strength. "Bath! Now!"

Michiru grabbed for him. "Wait! I have to help with the dishes...!"

"It's okay Michiru, you go on ahead." Koyomi scowled ferociously at the boys, her narrowed blue eyes glittering with frost. "The _boys_ can help with the dishes tonight."

The laughter cut off dead. All three of the guys straightened in their chairs, staring at Koyomi with wide-eyed fear.

Michiru blinked. Happy-go-lucky Koyomi never got angry and she never glared. However, her _other_ personality, the ghost that cohabited and occasionally possessed Koyomi's body... "Mr. Yomi?"

The dark-haired girl smiled sweetly at Michiru. "Yes." She pulled out a large soup-ladle from the gods only knew where - her maroon track suit was _that_ snug. "Go and take your bath." She leveled a narrow-eyed and vicious smile at her table mates. " _I'll_ deal with the clowns."

Alarmed, Michiru gave in to the reaper's strangling tugs and left the dining room. The door closed on crashes, bangs, snarling feminine screams, and frightened masculine shouts. Wincing at the sounds, Michiru hurried down the hallway to her room to change out of her uniform.

~ * ~


	2. Chapter 2

**~ Two ~**

Wearing her fluffy, white terry-cloth robe and carrying a pale blue plastic pan full of bath things, Michiru opened the door to the humid bath room. She stepped into the spacious room with its bare stone walls and steamy, cracked mirrors then turned to close the door firmly and slide the dead-bolt in place. Michiru slid off her large round-lens glasses and tucked them into her robe's pocket.

The tiny reaper flew from her shoulder to stand on the rim of the steaming bath tub.

Michiru still had no clue what the heck had gotten into the guys during dinner. More importantly, why did Shito have such a problem with her bathing with the tiny reaper, Mr. Sugar Candy, or rather Kurou?

She spared the doll-like figure a quick glance.

Head down, the reaper paced the edge of the tub, back and forth, apparently deep in thought.

Michiru shook her head and shrugged out of her white terrycloth robe to hang it on wall hook by the door. _He's just a spirit, a_ tiny _spirit!_ His other form _was_ rather...impressive, but it wasn't like she was bathing with him in _that_ form. Shito was clearly over-reacting, which was rather unusual for him. Chika was the one who tended to get...explosive about things. _Whatever..._ She huffed a breath up into her lavender-tinted bangs. _The boys are just being big idiots over nothing - as usual._

Naked and already sweating in the steamy air, she carried her pale blue plastic bath pan over to the large tub then crouched to set her shampoo, conditioner, and soap on the floor. She leaned past the reaper to dunk her plastic pan into the tub's water, filling it.

Michiru knelt and dumped the heated water over her, letting it sluice down her body to spill on the floor's cracked tiles to disappear down the long vented drains all around the tub. The glorious heat lifted the small hairs on her skin and deliciously loosened every muscle it touched. A soft moan left her lips. After two more she was thoroughly drenched.

She turned to pull a low, plastic bath stool close, then sat down and picked up her soap and long-handled scrub brush. Humming the tune to a song that she'd heard on the radio, Michiru applied the soap and her brush with vigor to her arms, legs, feet, belly, and chest until she was covered in foam and her skin glowed pink.

The reaper suddenly sat on the edge of the tub and focused on her.

Her mind was suddenly flooded with the image of Kurou sitting on the rim of the tub in his _other_ form: tall, imposing, long-limbed - and watching her with one burning violet eye.

Michiru stilled, her scrub brush poised over her toes. Her face heated. She pulled her gaze away and shook her head. _Don't be an idiot. Kurou is a spirit! He would never think of me - a common human -_ that _way._ She grabbed her shampoo and began soaping her hair. Once that was done, she collected her pale blue pan and leaned over the tub to collect water to rinse off the soap.

The reaper inched along the rim to sit closer to her. "Fledgling, Michiru, do you know why I like bathing with you?"

"Um..." Actually, she _didn't_ know. While scrambling for a logical explanation, she sluiced the water over her head to clear away the shampoo. "Because I'm small, I won't accidentally crush you or drown you?"

The reaper sighed. "No."

Michiru wiped the water from her eyes and frowned. "Because you like baths?" She leaned over the tub to collect more water and rinsed the rest of the soap off of her.

The reapers eye followed the path of the water down her breasts and belly. "I do like baths - with _you_."

Michiru set the pan down on the floor and stood to step into the tub. "Okay..." The heat of the water tingled up her legs. Slowly and carefully, she sat, sinking to her neck then stretched out.

Rather than hop into the water, the little reaper remained on the edge of the tub. "I have a confession to make."

Michiru drew her knees up to her chin. "Okay?"

The little reaper looked away. "When I first met you, I didn't much...care for you."

_He didn't...?_ That kind of...hurt. Michiru folded in on herself, her gaze sliding down to the water. "Oh..."

The reaper sighed. "After... _this_ happened-" He waved a non-existent hand at himself. "-And I was forced to be in your company for...the duration..."

_Forced_...? Michiru winced. Okay, that _really_ hurt. She began to rise from the water. "I'm, sorry, I-"

The reaper hopped to his feet and shouted. "Sit down and let me finish!"

Michiru sat back down in the water, blinking at him. "O-okay...?"

The reaper began to pace along the rim of the tub. "Over time, I got to know you. I got to see that beneath your foolish naiveté and appalling ignorance, you're fairly strong-willed. Despite your apparent weaknesses, you continually walk straight into situations that render most humans into weeping, gibbering heaps."

Michiru blinked, sorting through what he was saying. It _almost_ sounded like he was...complimenting her.

The reaper shook his head. "You're woefully untrained for fighting and appallingly unarmed, but that doesn't seem to stop you getting involved - usually over your head."

Michiru looked away. "I try to stay out of the way..."

The reaper snorted and folded his hypothetical arms before his chest. "I _saw_ you throwing rocks at that zombie to draw its attention off of the Tachibana brat, yesterday."

Michiru ground her teeth and fisted her hands. "It was going to bite Shito! I just couldn't stand there and do nothing!"

The reaper snorted and looked her in the eye. "In short, I have since become...accustomed to your whimsical, yet willful nature." His glance slid away. "I have become accustomed to...you."

Michiru blinked. "Does this mean you _do_ like me, at least a little?"

The reaper rolled his one visible eye. "Michiru, do you know why I prefer to sleep on your chest at night, or more to the point, between your breasts?"

Michiru froze. _Between my breasts_? Truthfully, she hadn't actually paid much attention to the fact that no matter how many times she set him on her pillow at night she always woke up with him nestled...on her chest, usually under her pajamas and against her skin. "Err..."

The reaper looked her dead in the eyes. "Because I find you _attractive_."

Michiru blinked, trying to find another meaning behind his words besides the most obvious one. Unfortunately, nothing came to mind. "But you can't!"

He scowled. "Because I'm small?"

She shook her head. "Because you're a powerful being and I'm...!" She looked away. "I'm _not_. I'm just an ordinary human."

The reaper rolled his one visible eye. "Michiru, you are _not_ ordinary. In fact, you're not exactly human either."

The zombie teacher that had almost killed her suddenly came to mind. Michiru felt a sudden chill and sank deeper into the water. "But I'm...living, aren't I?" Bekko hadn't _lied_ to her...?

Kurou nodded slowly. "Yes, you are living. Bekko's little spirit-mender Yuuta repaired your body after your first brush with death, despite the fact that he can _not_ mend living human flesh."

"He...can't?" The chill burned down toward Michiru's heart. "But he did! He has...!"

The reaper nodded. "Yes, Bekko's brat did mend you, several times in fact _because_ you are not completely human."

Michiru tilted her head and frowned, recalling all her encounters over the past year with zombies and other supernatural beings. Had they changed her in some way? "But, I don't feel any different from before...?"

The reaper shook his head slowly. "Michiru, you have _never_ been completely human."

Anger sparked, burning away the chill closing in around her heart. Michiru sat upright with a splash. "I am _so_ human! Both my parents were human!"

Kurou's voice softened. "Michiru, humans cannot see what a _shinigami_ , a reaper, sees. Nor can they _physically_ enter the spiritual plane and use it to go from Japan all the way to China. They _certainly_ can't pull the soul from living flesh, or seize the core of a spiritual being."

"But..." Michiru bit her lip and settled back in the water. "But _I_ can."

Kurou nodded with exaggerated patience. "Yes, you can."

Michiru fisted her hands. Kurou was obviously trying to tell her something, but she couldn't figure out what it was. "I don't understand!"

The little reaper sighed. "Michiru, when your mortal body dies, you will not go to Heaven, or to Hell, or Nirvana, or-" He scowled and waved a hypothetical hand. "-Wherever it is you humans go. You will come to me."

Michiru's eyes widened. She grabbed onto the sides of the tub. "What?"

The little reaper stared at her with one burning eye. "When your mortal flesh dies, you will become what I am; a reaper of souls."

She shook her head frantically. "But I don't _want_ to be a reaper!"

He smiled sourly. "Neither did I."

Michiru's brows lifted. "You weren't always...?"

"No." He shook his head. "Although I was not born human, I was once just as mortal as you are now, and I had the eyes, just as you do." He shrugged. "That you can pull a soul from flesh while still in your mortal body is a bit surprising though."

Michiru bit her lip. "But that was..." That woman - that _creature_ tried to kill Shito...! She looked away. "I was angry."

He smiled, so to speak. "So I saw."

Michiru gnawed on her knuckles. When she died, she'd become a reaper? "Oh God, what do I do?"

The reaper shrugged. "You live your life as best you can until your time comes, just like any other mortal." He took a deep breath. "And then you come with me."

Michiru blinked at him. "With...you?" Somehow, that didn't sound so bad. Even if he left when his core, his soul, was returned, she'd still see him again.

The reaper looked away. "We...reapers are supposed to work in pairs. You're to...be with me."

Her eyes widened. "I am?"

The reaper scuffed a toe on the tub's rim. "I was supposed to collect you over a year ago when you were first attacked by that zombie woman. You were supposed to die then."

Michiru frowned. She did remember seeing the black ring around her neck, though there was no trace of it these days. "But, I _didn't_ die."

The reaper looked over at her. "No, you didn't, but you were supposed to."

Michiru shivered. "You're not going to...take me, are you?"

The reaper snorted and rolled his eye. "Not that way, no."

She frowned. Not _that_ way...?

Kurou looked her dead in the eye. "You may live your mortal life-span for as long as you can keep it."

Michiru gave him a trembling smile. "Even if that's only until next week?"

The reaper blinked. "So you _do_ understand how precarious your situation is."

Michiru looked down at the water. "I understand that what I'm doing; hunting zombies, is dangerous and that I could die, maybe even tomorrow, yes."

The reaper sat on the rim of the tub. "I'd like to say that once you have become...what I am, that your fears will be over, but..." He shrugged. "Well, you can see what happened to me."

Anger burned up Michiru's spine. "You're _not_ dead!"

The reaper snorted and rolled his one visible eye. "Actually I _am_ dead, and for...quite a while now."

Michiru lunged up to her knees, the water rushing down her bare shoulders. "That's not the point!" Scowling fiercely, she pointed at the tiny doll-like man. "You're still _here_! Maybe you're small, but you're still here!"

The reaper hopped back from her fury, his eyes widening. "Michiru?"

Michiru stood, the water running down her naked body, and raised her fist. "I'll get your core back! If I have to rip it out of that bastard's body myself, you'll have it back!" She threw her leg over the tub's rim and stomped over to her towel on the counter by the row of cracked mirrors. "I won't leave you this way! I won't!"

The reaper smiled. "I didn't know you cared."

Michiru angrily smeared away the fog on the mirror with the intent to glare at his reflection. "Of course I...!"

However, reflected in the glass was not the tiny doll-like figure sitting on the rim of the tub, but Kurou in all his long-limbed, whip-cord muscular, leather-bound, black-winged glory.

She sucked in a deep breath and clutched the towel to her breasts. "Kurou?"

He tilted his head, his mop of blood red hair falling over his patched eye. "Yes?"

"When did you...?" She turned around.

Kurou's tiny form sat on the rim of the tub. "When did I...what?"

Michiru looked back into the mirror.

Kurou was a full-sized again.

Michiru swallowed hard. _Maybe I_ _ **shouldn't**_ _have been bathing with him all this time_.

Kurou's reflection spread out his long arms to grip the rim of the tub and his one visible eye seemed to ignite with inner flames. "You can see me in the glass - my true form." It wasn't a question.

Michiru nodded.

"I can see yours too; what you will be when you become a reaper." He smiled, though it wasn't exactly obvious when his face was so wrapped in bandages. "You're going to be magnificent. Deep violet hair, emerald eyes, and wings so black they blot out the sun. The undead will kneel before you and beg you to take them."

Michiru's heart stuttered in her chest. It sounded like a love confession. She took in a deep breath to clear her head. "But I'm not like that now."

Kurou's reflection rose to his feet. "Your current form is not without charm, Michiru." He stepped closer and his voice deepened. "Especially now, with your milk-white skin so temptingly rosy from the bath, and even in this form your hair occasionally shows a pale violet tint."

Michiru's heart leapt in her throat. _I should have_ _ **never**_ _bathed with him_! She bolted for her bathrobe by the door and practically ripped it from the hook to get it on.

Behind her, the reaper chuckled. "Now you understand why your teammates didn't want you bathing with me."

"But...!" Clutching the bathrobe to her throat, Michiru turned around to face the tiny doll-like figure floating in mid-air. "You're not like that now! You're just..." She bit down on her bottom lip. _A tiny doll_. She couldn't say that. She didn't want to hurt his manly pride. However, he _had_ been ogling her all this time.

"Agreed, however I freely admit to taking pleasure in watching you. Shall I reveal a personal secret to you in return?"

_A personal secret_? While she _was_ curious, and a tad bit offended at his boldness, she didn't want him to reveal something he wasn't comfortable revealing. "That's okay." Michiru shook her head. "It's my fault for letting you...see me."

"And mine, as I did nothing to dispel your...assumptions about me." He floated back. "Come to the mirror. There is something I would show you. Something very few have ever seen."

Michiru took a few small tentative steps toward him. "If you don't want to...?"

The reaper floated further back. "But I do. I want to show _you_."

Michiru found herself standing beside the mirror. Strangely nervous, she turned to face it.

In the glass, the tall reaper stood right behind her with his wings folded back behind him and tucked under his feathered collar of his tattered cape. The buckled leather was tight around his slender yet muscular body. "Observe." He reached up and passed his hand before his face.

The bandages and the leather strapping that bound his face evaporated into smoke revealing strong cheekbones and arching red brows framing one open flame-violet eye. The other eye was closed by a scar that went from his brow to his jaw. Both eyes possessed long, long dark lashes. His nose was straight and fine. His jaw-line was strong, but his chin pointed and his lips elegant. Despite the scar, he looked almost... _pretty_.

Michiru couldn't help but stare. "So _that's_ why she called you Mr. Sugar Candy."

His brows winged up, but his lips curved downward. "What?"

Michiru blinked, startled. She _hadn't_ meant to say that out loud. "Err..." She licked her lips. "You're very..." She couldn't say _pretty_ , but she wanted to - very, very badly. "Cute."

Kurou stiffened. "Cute?"

Michiru rolled her eyes. "Fine, you're very handsome." She frowned. "Why do you cover it, your face I mean?"

His lips twisted into a scowl. "I conceal it because no one fears a face such as this."

Michiru threw a pout at him. "But I _like_ your face!"

One red brow lifted. "Do you?" He stepped closer, his breath whispering against the fine hairs of her neck. "Would you...kiss this face?" His deep voice rumbled all the way down to resonate in her belly.

_Yes!_ Michiru swallowed and glanced away. "Maybe."

Something slammed against the bathroom door. The dead bolt popped free of the door to skitter across the floor tiles. The door swung open to crash against the wall and Koyomi burst across the threshold clutching her bath pan filled with her soaps. She was wearing a _very_ small towel that strained across her ample breasts and barely reached her thighs.

Right behind her was Aso, who was also wearing a very small towel around his hips.

Koyomi froze, blinking then abruptly smiled hugely. "Oh, ah, Michiru! I didn't know you were still in here."

Aso slunk back around the corner, clearly trying to melt out of sight. It might have worked if his shoulders hadn't been so broad.

"Oh, ah..." Michiru turned to collect her towel and bath things at light speed. "I was just leaving!" She rushed out the door and around the corner without looking Aso's way and bolted for her room.

The tiny reaper shot Aso a glare in passing then floated after Michiru.

Aso frowned after the reaper. "What's his problem?"

Koyomi grabbed Aso's arm. "Who cares?" She dragged Aso into the bathroom and slammed the door shut behind them.

~ * ~ 


	3. Chapter 3

**~ Three ~**

Standing with her back against her room's closed door, Michiru clutched her robe to her throat and gasped for breath. She'd known that Koyomi and Aso were...dating, but she hadn't quite realized they'd gone _that_ far.

She winced. _Idiot...!_ _ **Of course**_ _they've gone_ _ **that**_ _far._ The Yomi half of Koyomi's personality was openly lecherous, at least around Michiru, and Aso was a known womanizer. She'd had more than one run-in with his openly adoring and half-naked harem.

Michiru sighed heavily then turned to her right to set her bath things on her battered dresser next to her aged brass bed. It was beginning to look like she was the only virgin in the dorm. In fact, according to the gossip her classmates shared, she was very likely the only virgin in the whole senior class.

She was seriously beginning to feel rather...left out.

Michiru scowled and jerked opened the middle drawer of her dresser to yank out a pink flannel nightgown. _Stupid virginity_! She flung the night gown on the neatly made bed and slammed the drawer closed. It wasn't that she was saving herself for marriage or anything. She doubted she'd live that long. She just wanted to give her virginity to someone she _liked_ \- that liked her back.

However, the way things were going, she sincerely doubted she'd live long enough to go on a proper date, never mind get the chance to lose her virginity. _Damn it!_

Michiru stomped across the room to pull the heavy curtains closed. It was too damned cold at night to leave them open. The cracked windows did little to keep heat in the room. She then moved to the fireplace opposite her bed and knelt to light the paper covered fire log in her fireplace, then added a few actual wood logs. The aged fireplace was the room's _only_ source of heat and the paper coated fire log only lasted a few hours.

Once the log was well and truly lit, she slipped out of her bathrobe and pulled her night gown over her head, tugging it down over her nudity. _Stupid zombies!_ Why were they all in _her_ town anyway? If it hadn't been for them, she'd have been able to live a normal life and gotten herself a normal boyfriend.

Michiru flopped back on her bed to stare at the cracked, water-stained ceiling. _So what should I do?_ She didn't want to die a virgin! That would be completely pathetic.

Truthfully, Aso had been her first choice to...do the deed. He was nice to her and obviously very experienced. He would very likely make sure her first time was enjoyable. However, Koyomi was so obviously smitten with Aso that guilt had pretty much ruined her one and only date with the food-obsessed, eye-patch-wearing, axe-wielding, zombie biker.

Well, that and the whole dorm building suddenly being thrown into another dimension.

Silver-haired Chika was right out. He'd brag about being her first to everyone - within seconds. He'd also hold it over her head for the rest of her life.

The Chinese prince, Shito, was a possible option. He was gorgeous and definitely knew how to keep his mouth shut. He was even nice to her, sometimes, in a hot-cold, bi-polar sort of way. However, she wasn't exactly sure that Shito even _liked_ girls. He never spoke to any of girls at school and stayed awfully close to Chika. But then, Chika was in possession of his right hand, and vice-versa. On second thought, he didn't seem to like Chika either.

Sawatari Otsu, the zombie police officer was way too tall and far too scary.

The Buddhist undertaker guy was way too old and already had a child.

Yuuta, the little secretary and healer was way too young – at least he _looked_ that way.

Bekko, the resident ferryman and manager of Z-Loan was way too weird.

Michiru blinked. _Oh wait, I forgot one; Lyca the werewolf_! Despite being possessed by the spirits of an entire pack of extinct wolves since his early childhood, he had become quite civilized. He was also rather cute and he seemed to like her. However, it was obvious that he was _very_ attached to the Lolita-esque Miss Shimotsuki, the Z-Loan chairman. On the other hand, at the graceful age of eleven, Miss Shimotsuki wasn't anywhere near old enough for... _that_ , so maybe Lyca would be willing to...?

A sharp and rapid tapping sounded on her door.

Michiru sat up and blinked at her door. "Who is it?"

"Me." The voice was deep and very familiar. It was Mr. Zarame, Mr. Sugar Candy; Kurou.

Michiru's brain abruptly exploded with a full Technicolor memory of what the tiny reaper's face _really_ looked like under all those bandages. If his face was anything to go by, then the rest of him was probably...? Her mouth went dry and something deep in her gut gave a hungry clench. Now _that_ was a man to lose one's virginity to...!

Too bad he was currently stuck in the form of a doll.

Feeling surprisingly disappointed, Michiru rose from her bed to open the door.

The tiny reaper whooshed past her to land on her pillow. His one visible violet eye narrowed. "Is something wrong?"

Michiru bit down on her bottom lip. _You mean other than the fact that it looks like I'm going to die a virgin?_ She shook her head then looked away. "It's nothing, really."

"Did what I tell you, bother you that much?"

"Hm...?" It honestly took her a full breath to remember what Kurou had told her in the bathroom; that she was destined to become a reaper once she died. The shock of that had been washed almost completely away by the sight of his face. _Mr. Sugar Candy indeed_!

Michiru shook her head sharply. _Get back on track!_ "Will I really-? She looked over at the tiny reaper perched on her pillow. "- _Really_ become a soul-reaper when I die?"

The doll-like figure rolled his one visible eye. "Fledgling, you're already more reaper than human now."

Michiru jerked her gaze away. "I uh...see." Okay, that was rather depressing. She padded over to her fireplace then picked up the brush sitting on the mantelpiece. Gazing at her refection in the large cracked mirror that hung over the mantle, she dragged the brush through the tattered remains of her lavender-tinted hair. "Is it...hard; being a...reaper?"

Kurou shrugged. "It's not so bad. It's a job similar to the one you have now, although you will be taking a far more active role."

Michiru winced. "Killing people."

The reaper's eye narrowed. "We do not kill the living. We release the souls of the dead who refuse to pass on."

Michiru set down her brush and turned to look at him. "I thought reapers were supposed to take the souls of the living too?"

Kurou shrugged. "We _can_ ; in fact we used to." He growled low in his chest. "Unfortunately, there just aren't enough of us. We reapers can barely keep up with sheer number of those who refuse to _stay_ dead, never mind bothering with the nearly innumerable living population."

Michiru tilted her head. _Not enough of us?_ "How come there aren't more reapers?"

Kurou shrugged. "You'd think that as the population increased there _would_ be more of us, but..." He frowned slightly. "Now that I think on it, _you_ are the only unborn reaper I've come across in the past two centuries." He abruptly waved a tiny insubstantial hand. "Never mind all that. When you do become a reaper, your job will be dealing with those that refuse to stay dead, not the living."

"Oh..." Well, that didn't sound so bad. She stepped over to her bed and tugged the covers back. "And once I...die, will I be...staying with you too?"

He snorted. "Of course. We're to be..." He looked away. "Partners."

"Oh..." She'd only seen the place where he stayed once. It was dark, dirty, and creepy. Michiru climbed onto the bed and pulled the old comforter up over her legs. "But, um, I don't know if I'd like living in an abandoned train station."

The reaper scowled. "I don't live in that rat-trap of a train station! That's merely a door into this world, one of many in fact."

She frowned. "A...door?"

Kurou shrugged very casually. "I live in the ethereal realm in a proper house on an island."

_A house...? Wait, an island_...? She blinked. "You live by the ocean?"

He waved a hypothetical hand. "The island floats in the ether. The sea that surrounds it is made of clouds."

"Oh..." That actually sounded...pretty. She tugged up the comforter and leaned back among her pillows. "A house in the clouds..."

The reaper floated up from her pillow. "Which reminds me, I expected the Akatsuki brat to forget, but I didn't think you would."

"Forget?" Michiru looked up at the floating reaper and frowned. "Forget...what?"

He plopped down on her belly. "This."

There was a very distinctive hard tug around her heart. It didn't hurt, but it was startling - and familiar.

A whirlwind of darkness wrapped around the little reaper then it exploded outward in a cascade of raw black power that dissolved into a fall of pitch black feathers. The doll was gone, replaced by the long, lanky, leather and bandage bound reaper. He sat straddling her hips with one knee up along her side and one booted foot on the floor. Enormous black wings unfolded to drape over either side of the bed.

Michiru's eyes stretched as wide as they could go. She sucked in a deep breath to scream at the top of her lungs. However, when she opened her mouth, all that came out was a single breathless word. "Big."

He leaned over her, setting his left forearm over her head. It sank into her pillow. The bandages disappeared from his face. He spoke in a low whisper that resonated low in her belly. "In your presence I can assume my true form." He winced slightly. "For a short while anyway."

The distracting scent of leather and night wind filled her nose. Michiru licked at her dry lips. "How long?"

He sighed. "Only a few minutes." His brow lifted and a smile curved his lips. "There is, however, a way to prolong it."

Michiru blinked. "There is?"

"Yes." His head lowered even further. "Like this." His lips pressed lightly against hers.

Startled, Michiru's lips parted on a squeak.

Kurou's mouth opened fully on hers to swallow the small sound then his tongue darted in to stroke against hers.

In sheer reflex, Michiru grabbed onto Kurou's feathered shoulders. She fully intended to shove him off, but was completely distracted by the brief flavor of him on her tongue. He tasted of fresh rainwater and something else - something dark and almost electrical. Curiosity drove her to stoke his tongue for a better sample. However, beneath the taste of rain and night was a warmer, richer, muskier flavor. It was interesting, and exciting. It was also vaguely familiar though she couldn't place it.

Kurou groaned in her mouth and captured her tongue with his lips to suckle on it.

Tingles danced all the way down Michiru's spine. Deep in her belly, something tightened deliciously and squeezed a soft moan from her. Her fingers clenched in the feathers that made up the collar of his cape. Completely without thought, her heels dug into the mattress and her hips rocked upward to press intimately against him. The blanket between her body and his was suddenly...annoying.

Kurou rocked his hips in reply and a hot, hard ridge slid against her crotch. His mouth slid from her lips to open against her throat. His teeth grazed the long tendon on the side, delivering even more tingles.

Under an amazing wave of raw yet delicious shivers, Michiru whimpered, not with fear - with _want_. Something inside and down very low in her belly felt...empty, and hungry. She vaguely wondered if what she was feeling was lust?

_Bang! Bang! Bang!_ Heavy thumps assaulted her bedroom door.

Michiru stiffened, her eyes flying open. She didn't even remember closing them.

Kurou popped into a billow of fast evaporating black smoke and feathers. The little reaper doll reappeared, his long, muscular body gone as though it had never been there. He fell about a foot and landed on her belly with a snarl. "Damned interruptions!"

The bedroom door crashed open and smashed into the wall. Crammed tight together, Chika and Shito tripped into her room with their weapons; Shito's ectoplasmic gun and Chika's equally ectoplasmic sword, raised, the chains attaching the weapons to the handcuff around their wrists swinging wildly.

Chika's golden gaze darted around the room, his sword pointed at her window, then at the fireplace. "Are you okay? We heard moaning."

They heard her _moaning_? Michiru slowly dragged the blanket up over her nose to cover her burning cheeks. "I'm f-fine."

Holding his gun with both hands, Shito's black eyes narrowed on the tiny glaring reaper. "Kita, is there something you need to tell us?"

"Um..." Michiru eyed the tiny reaper. Should she tell them? What would happen if she did?

All hell would break loose, no doubt - beginning and ending with Kurou being taken away from her and kept from her, most likely by Bekko.

Michiru _couldn't_ let that happen. She pulled down the blanket to grin hugely at the boys in her doorway. "Nope! Not at all!"

Lowering his sword, Chika shook his head, tossing his mop of silver hair. "Then what the hell were you moaning about?"

Michiru tugged the blankets back up to her chin, took a deep breath, and lied. "Mr. Kurou was telling me a s-scary story." She looked away. She hated lying, but... Her gaze drifted to the tiny reaper. But she _couldn't_ risk losing him.

Chika's eyebrow twitched. "A scary story made you _moan_?"

Shito's frown deepened. "Mr. Kurou?" He raised his spirit gun to his shoulder, pointing it up at the ceiling.

Michiru decided to skip Chika's question entirely. "Mr. Kurou is closer to his real name than 'Mr. Sugar Candy'."

Chika's brows rose. "What's his real name?"

"He didn't say." Michiru shrugged and looked over at the tiny reaper. "He just said that Kurou was closer."

The reaper in question nodded and crossed his arms.

Both boys wilted where they stood then rolled their eyes in opposite directions. Their ectoplasmic weapons evaporated. Without bothering to look, they each gripped their wrists and detached their right hands from their arms. They then traded hands and reattached the other's hand to their arms.

Michiru had seen it a million times - and it still gave her the willies. She knew it didn't hurt either of them, but it was a very potent reminder that they were both technically dead. They were zombies. She shivered slightly. "Are we done?" Her voice came out a bit tighter than she liked. She took a deeper breath. "Can I go to sleep now?"

Chika scowled, his pale lips curling, and gave her a one shoulder shrug. "Yeah, fine, sure." He turned to the door.

Shito however, narrowed his dark eyes on the tiny reaper. Swift as an adder, he reached out and grabbed the tiny-doll-sized man.

The reaper yelped in surprise then loosed a long line of vicious epithets while kicking his tiny insubstantial feet. "-Let me go you dead-rot, puss-stinking brat!"

Michiru jerked upright in bed. "Shito! What are you doing?"

Shito eyed the reaper in his hand and pasted on a smile that was just as chilling as his gaze. "Mr. Sugar Candy is sleeping with me tonight." He backed toward the door, his smile broadening to show the slightly over-long canines that all zombie's possessed. It wasn't comforting in the least. "You can see him in the morning."

"Shito...!" Michiru tugged the blankets back and set one foot on the floorboards. "Let him go!" Unfortunately, her flannel nightgown caught and tangled with the wool of the blanket. She jerked at the binding blanket.

"I'm not going to hurt him." Shito pointed a long finger at her. "No more scary stories before bed! You have school in the morning." He stepped out and closed her door firmly behind him.

Mouth open in shock, Michiru stared at the closed door. _What the_...? Had Shito gone mad?

~ * ~ 


	4. Chapter 4

 

**~ Four ~**

On the far end of the dormitory corridor, Shito jerked his rickety door open. The small room was crammed with odd bits of furniture, statuary, manikins, road signs, and knick-knacks. Scowling fiercely, he strode past a couple of trunks and a wing chair covered in kewpie dolls moving to the far left corner to stand before an antique black-iron birdcage suspended on a curving wrought iron stand.

With a flick of his elegant fingers, he opened the tiny door. A small, but thoroughly modern padlock rattled against the bars. He shoved the tiny reaper into the cage where he dropped onto a small round, red silk pillow. Shito closed the door and fastened the lock. "Welcome to your new bedroom."

Squeaking madly, the reaper grabbed onto the cage's bars and jerked on them. The cage bounced on its stand and rattle insanely, but it remained firmly attached - and closed.

Chika frowned over Shito's shoulder at the bouncing birdcage. "Shito, what are you doing?"

Shito's chin lifted and he turned to walk past Chika. "Making sure that Kita has an undisturbed night's sleep."

Chika shoved his hands into the pockets of his faded cargo pants and shrugged. "Okay, but what about you? It's making a racket."

Shito reached down to lift a black velvet cloth. "Not for long." He draped the cloth over the cage.

The cage stopped bouncing and the squeaking stopped cold.

Chika stared wide-eyed. "Whoa..."

"It's just asleep." Shito swept his hands against each other. "Gift from Toho."

Chika shook his head. "Toho...? You mean that bastard Chinese sorcerer - the dead one?"

Shito nodded. "Make no mistake, I am quite glad the bastard is dead, but he definitely knew his sorcery." He looked over at Chika then nodded toward the birdcage. "I had him make a cage specifically to hold _that_." He stalked over to his bed which was piled high with blankets and pillows of every size and description. He shoved a few dozen pillows aside and sat down.

Chika frowned and followed after Shito. He shoved a pile of books off a wooden chair next to the bed. The books _thunked_ onto the floor. He dropped onto the chair with the grace of a rag-doll. "Why'd you go and do that?"

Shito glared at the fallen books then turned his glare on Chika. "Remember when that thing assumed full-size in the other dimension?"

Chika shrugged. "Yeah?"

"I asked Toho how it could do so while in _that_ condition." He shoved a thumb over his shoulder, indicating the cage behind him.

Chika shook his head frowning. "I thought that was because Shiba-bastard had its core and it was close to it?"

Shito nodded. "So did I. However, Toho disagreed. According to Toho, it has some kind of connection to Kita's soul - enough of one to use _her soul_ for its core if it wants to."

Chika's golden eyes widened. "What...?"

Shito folded his arms before him and narrowed his burgundy eyes. "In other words, it can take that form _any_ time it's near Kita." He waved a hand. "For a short time anyway. Toho said the connection isn't all that strong."

Chika frowned. "Then why hasn't it?" He shook his head. "I mean, it hasn't done it once since then...?"

Shito looked away and scowled. "That we know of." He looked up at Chika from under his long black bangs. "I really don't like that they've been bathing together and sleeping in the same bed all this time."

Shito scraped a hand through his unruly silver hair. "Well, it clearly hasn't done anything yet."

Shito's scowl deepened. "I think it's waiting for something, but what?"

Chika shrugged. "Maybe it's waiting for a better connection?"

Shito stiffened and his burgundy eyes went wide. " _What_ did you say...?"

Chika waved a hand absently. "Well, last time, it was only able to hold its full size for about five minutes. Maybe it's waiting for a better connection so it can go longer?"

Shito scowled. "Now I _really_ don't like the idea of them sleeping together."

Chika suddenly shivered. "Ew! Would you quit sayin' that? That's gross, man."

Shito's eyes narrowed. "I say we keep that connection from happening." He suddenly smiled. "Or better yet, divert her connection to somewhere else, or rather some _one_ else."

Chika blinked. "Eh...?"

Shito leaned back on his hands and crossed one knee over the other. One slender black brow rose. "How old is Kita?"

Chika frowned. "Um, seventeen, almost eighteen, I think?" He looked to the side and his frown deepened. "I think she stayed back a grade the year that zombie-teacher-bitch cut her in half."

Shito suddenly smiled. "That's old enough to lose one's virginity, wouldn't you say?"

Chika blinked. "Yeah." His golden eyes widened then suddenly narrowed and a smile curled his lips. "Yeah...!"

Shito suddenly stood up. "I'll do it."

"You?" Chika scowled and stood up too. "Why, _you_?"

Shito lifted a brow. "How many women have you slept with?"

Chika stiffened. "Uh..."

Shito's eyes narrowed and his smile tightened. "I only _look_ seventeen, remember? Before I came to Japan, I lived in a palace for over a hundred and fifty years; a palace with concubines."

"Concubines...?" Chika swallowed hard.

Shito smile turned blatantly smug. "I know more about deflowering virgins than you will _ever_ know."

Chika sneered. "With the way you act around girls, I didn't think you even _liked_ them."

Shito turned his back to Chika and slid out of his school jacket. "Most of the girls around here are idiots. I can _not_ abide idiots." He began to unbutton his white dress-shirt. "Though truthfully, I don't have a gender preference."

Chika flinched back. "Eh...?"

Shito pulled off his shirt then turned to face Chika bare-chested with a sly smile and narrowed burgundy eyes. "Not all of my concubines were _female_."

Chika skittered back to the door and pressed his butt against it. "You're freakin' me out, man."

Shito rolled his eyes. "I will never understand this century's terror of anal sex."

Chika's face went white. "You mean you _like_ takin' it up the ass?"

Shito shrugged. "Giving or receiving... Sex is sex." He sat on his bed and began to pull off his shoes and socks.

Chika tilted his head to the side and frowned. "But doesn't that...hurt?"

Shito's brows lifted. "Not if it's done right." He sat up. "In fact, anal sex delivers a more intense orgasm than regular sex."

Chika's white brows lifted. "It does?"

Shito smiled, leaned back on his bed, the muscles of his belly rippling, then spread his legs revealing that the top button of his pants was undone and the zipper of his fly lowered. "I could show you, if you like?"

Chika's eyes widened. He scrambled for the doorknob behind him. "I'm gonna go now." He grinned hugely and jerked the door open. "See ya, bye!" He dashed out into the hall and slammed the door closed behind him.

Shito's smile broadened to show his fangs. "Pleasant dreams, cherry-boy." He snorted then turned and swung his legs up on the bed. With a soft sigh, he laid back against the pillows folding his arms behind his head. "Now then, what would be the fastest way to seduce and deflower the other virgin...?"

~ ZL ~

Michiru could not get to sleep. She tossed and turned feeling distinctly uncomfortable; especially in...the lower region. That area was all hot and...sticky. It was also vaguely itchy. Almost as bothersome were her breasts. Despite being on the small side, they felt heavy and her nipples were downright swollen.

She flipped over onto her tummy, but that didn't help. She slipped one hand into the neck of her nightgown to rub at her tight nipples. That didn't help either; in fact, it made the place between her legs _throb_. There was no way in hell she could sleep like that.

There was no help for it. She'd have to do _that_. Deep under her covers she tugged up the hem of her nightgown and slid her hand into her panties. Her fingers made contact with the damp folds of her body's core, then with the aching button at the apex. A soft sigh escaped her lips. She rubbed gently, stirring warm tingles of delight. _Oh yes, this will help, definitely._ She spread her thighs wide and went to work.

This form of comfort and pleasure was something she had discovered long before she left her aunt's house. She had no idea if there was a name for it, she'd never had the courage to ask anyone or even look it up. It was a private thing, a secret thing, and possibly a shameful thing. That didn't change the fact that after the pleasure peaked she would sleep soundly.

It was also something she had _not_ indulged in even once since Kurou had started sharing her...pillow.

As though conjured by magic, a vision of him in all his long-limbed, winged glory appeared in her imagination, and with it, his face without his bandages to obscure the view.

He was so...beautiful, and his kiss...!

Her body gave a hard hungry clench that startled a gasp out of her. Suddenly her mind filled with what Kurou looked like, and smelled like, and _felt_ like against her body... Her fingers danced of their own volition, moving with purpose among the tender folds of her most private place. Threads of excitement coiled and tightened deep in her belly. She thumbed and flicked the tiny button at the top. Her breath stuttered and she was forced to bury her face in her pillow to stifle the involuntary whimpers, but she didn't stop.

Pleasure peaked and fell away leaving her blissful and sleepy; and sticky, but she just couldn't find the will to care. With a deep sigh and a small smile, she dropped into sleep.

~ ZL ~

A sharp knocking on her door startled Michiru from sleep. She sat up and rubbed her eyes against the sunlight spearing through the part in her curtains. "Yes?"

Shito's cultured voice carried through her door. "Kita, it's almost time to leave for school. Are you ready yet?"

Michiru stiffened. "What?" She turned sharply to look at her alarm clock. He was right. She only had twenty minutes to get to school.

"Ah!" She threw off the blankets and lunged out of bed to rush over to the three clean uniforms hanging from the wall by the fireplace. The fire had long since gone out and it was _chilly_ in her room. The room didn't have a closet so she had to make do with a pole suspended across brackets. She pulled off her nightgown and dropped it on the chair beneath the pole. "My alarm clock didn't go off!"

Shito pushed the door open and poked his dark head in. "What?"

Michiru squealed in alarm and yanked a uniform down to press it against her nude body. "Shito!"

Shito blinked his burgundy eyes at her. He didn't look away. "What? You better hurry if you want to eat before we leave."

Michiru grabbed the slipper under the chair and threw it at him. "Get _out_!"

Shito tilted to the side, easily avoiding the tossed slipper. "Your aim is atrocious." A slight smile curved his lips. "I'll be waiting." He pulled back and closed the door.

Her face hot from embarrassment, Michiru rushed to her door to lock it. Where Shito was, Chika was sure to follow. With a moan of annoyance, she dragged open her dresser drawer for clean underwear. "This is _not_ going to be a good day."

A sharp knock on her door sounded. "Gopher! You up yet?" It was Chika. Her door handle rattled. "Hey, Gopher!"

In the middle of fastening her bra she turned to the door in fright. "I'm up! I'm up! I'm getting dressed! I see you down at breakfast!"

The door handle stopped rattling. "Fine, fine, but you better hurry or the food'll be gone."

Michiru pulled on the maroon, long sleeved, turtle-neck dress then yanked on her maroon thigh high socks with speed born of desperation. Chika's threat was not an idle one. He had a tendency to eat anything that wasn't already in someone's hands. She grabbed the mauve sailor jacket to her uniform, her hooded, black wool winter coat, and her red leather, school briefcase bag, unlocked her door, then tore out of her room and down the hall at a run.

~ ZL ~

Michiru rushed into the dining room and tossed her coat and school bag on a chair just in time to snatch the last piece of buttered toast on the trestle table right out from under Chika's fingers.

Lounging in one of the battered wooden chairs with his white shirt tails loose from his brown school pants, silver-haired Chika pouted at her, but didn't complain.

Smiling brightly, Koyomi shoved a bowl of rice and a pair of chop sticks into Michiru's hands. "Here, I saved this for you."

Michiru took it gratefully and started shoveling food into her mouth. A soft sniffing noise sounded by her right ear. Startled, she ducked away.

Shito stood on her immediate right, bent over slightly. His burgundy eyes locked on hers and one slender black brow lifted. "Hn... So _that's_ what were you doing last night." He flashed a slight smile. "Not so innocent after all."

"What?" _Last night?_ Michiru's face heated and her breath caught. He couldn't know about... _that_. He couldn't...!

Shito straightened and tucked his hands into the pockets of his brown uniform pants. Unlike Chika, his white dress shirt was neatly tucked in and he also wore the maroon school blazer. He abruptly turned and strode for the door. "Let's go."

Chika stood up, his chair scraping on the wooden floor. "Oi! What the hell was _that_?" He rushed out into the hall, his loud voice carrying back into the room. "Were you just _sniffing_ her?"

Stiffly, Michiru set the empty bowl down on the table. Shito _had_ sniffed her. She'd heard it clearly. More than a little frightened, she turned to look over at the empty doorway. It was a well known fact that zombies had a vastly superior sense of smell, but... Could he actually smell something she'd done over eight hours ago?

 _No time to worry about that now!_ She threw on her black coat, grabbed her red leather book bag by the handle, and raced for the doors.

~ ZL ~

That particular morning, Michiru chose to take an alternate route to school. She had to run the whole way, but she made it in plenty of time to enter by way of one of the side doors rather than the front. She snuck her way to the shoe lockers at the front of the old school then raced to her student locker to shove her coat in and collect her class books with just a few minutes to spare. She strode toward her homeroom class pleased with herself at successfully avoiding both Chika and Shito.

Both boys were standing right by the door.

Chika scowled at her, his white brows low over his golden eyes, which was normal.

Shito lifted a black brow and gave her a slight smile, which was _not_.

Michiru ducked her head and bolted past them into her classroom. A hard shiver shook her. She had no idea what was going on, but she just _knew_ that her day had just gotten worse.

~ * ~ 


	5. Chapter 5

**~ Five ~**

For once in her life, Michiru felt blessed that she did not share any of the same classes as Shito and Chika. She had no idea what the guys were up to this time, but she knew in her gut that it did not bode well for her.

First period, second period, third period... Michiru kept her head down and her nose in her book. She absolutely, positively did not look at the door. She did not want to see if the guys were still there. She wouldn't put it past them. Unfortunately, in fourth period, her bladder decided to turn traitor on her.

She tried squeezing her legs together, but it didn't help. After a good ten minutes of wiggling, she finally raised her hand.

Without halting in his lecture, the teacher pointed to the wooden square carved with the phrase: BATHROOM PASS sitting on the chalk ledge of the blackboard.

Michiru's eyes widened and she whispered. "How did he know?"

Yumi, who sat behind her chuckled and whispered. "You've only been wiggling in your seat for the past ten minutes. The whole class knows you need to go."

_The whole class_? Michiru looked around.

Just about everyone was staring at her with a grin. Some of them were openly snickering.

Michiru's face heated in acute embarrassment. With a squeak, she lunged out of her chair to bolt to the front of the room. She snatched the wooden pass from the chalkboard and dashed out of the room, not quite slamming the sliding door closed behind her.

~ ZL ~

With a sigh of relief, Michiru left the girl's room at a much more sedate pace than when she'd gone in – only to walk face-first into someone's broad and very solid chest. With a small squeak of pain, Michiru bounced back a step. Rubbing her nose she looked up.

Shito stared down at her. His face had no expression what so ever, but that was normal for Shito, however his burgundy eyes seemed unusually focused.

She jerked back another step and clutched the wooden pass before her like a shield. "Sh-Sh-Shito...?"

"Miss Kita, I need to talk to you."

Alarm lifted the hairs on the back of Michiru's neck.

Shito scowled then snatched the wooden 'pass' from her hands and tossed it over his shoulder without looking. It landed on the floor tiles with a loud clatter.

Michiru lunged after it. "Hey...!"

Shito grabbed her wrist in passing, jerking her to a halt. "You won't be needing that." He started walking; or rather dragging her behind him.

"Um, Shito? Shito! _Shito...!_ " Michiru dug in her heels and tugged at Shito's fingers around her wrist, not that it did a damned bit of good. Zombies were insanely strong. "Shito where are you taking me?"

His steps didn't falter in the slightest. Nor did he turn to look back at her. "Keep your voice down or you'll alert the hall monitors."

Pure habit closed Michiru's mouth. Unfortunately, her silence also allowed Shito to drag her into the stairwell without anyone seeing them. She fully expected Shito to tow her up the stairs to the roof, where he normally delivered his lectures, but that wasn't where he went. Instead, he dragged her up only half a flight, then down a hallway straight to the student lockers.

Shito stopped before her locker. "Get your coat."

Michiru blinked at him. Shito wasn't wearing a coat other than his school blazer, but then, neither he nor Chika wore coats unless it went below freezing. However, Shito _was_ wearing his polished dress shoes, not the slippers one normally wore in school. She looked back up at him. "We're going outside?"

Shito leveled a narrow-eyed glare at her. "Hurry up. We need to get to the shoe lockers before a teacher spots us."

Michiru slid into her coat and had barely closed her locker before being dragged to the shoe lockers at the front of the school. There, she changed from her indoor shoes to her outdoor sneakers. One did _not_ chase after zombies in dress shoes - unless of course, you were a Chinese prince.

Shito then towed her out a side door.

She tripped along after him under the cloistered walkway that led to the freshman wing of the school. She frowned up at him. _What did he want in the freshmen wing?_

Shito abruptly turned to the right and stepped off the walkway into a disused and unkempt courtyard. Several minutes later, they were beyond the iron fence of the graveyard that separated the school from the old chapel that they used as a dormitory. Under an old and gnarled apple tree completely barren of leaves, he stopped cold.

Michiru bumped her nose into his back. "Ouch!"

Shito turned to face her without a trace of expression on his face. "Miss Kita."

Rubbing her bruised nose, she looked up at the far taller boy. "Yes?"

Shito frowned slightly. "Are you hurt?"

Michiru smiled just a little. "Your back is very...solid."

Shito blinked then blew out a breath. "My apologies." He shook his head and smiled just a little. "I tend to forget that you're...delicate."

Michiru rolled her eyes and chuckled nervously. "I'm not _that_ delicate."

Shito's smile warmed. "So you've proven, time and again."

Michiru nodded and smiled, basking in the rare compliment. Apparently, Shito wasn't going to lecture her this time.

"Miss Kita."

"Yes?"

"Have you been kissed?"

"Eh?" _Kissed...?_ Her face heated with blazing speed. Suddenly a vision of Kurou's true face flashed through her memory quickly followed by the memory of his kiss. That kiss was nothing to be embarrassed about. In fact, she considered it one of her most precious memories – and something she hoped to experience again. Her face cooled just a little, but she couldn't quite manage to meet Shito's very direct burgundy gaze. "Y-yes?"

Shito's eyes widened and his mouth fell open. Lightning fast, his eyes narrowed to slits and his teeth clenched. "Who?"

Michiru blinked up at him. _Who...?_ She turned away from his heated glare. She absolutely couldn't tell him that it was Kurou. He was already suspicious of the tiny _shinigami_ reaper. She gathered her breath to speak firmly and clearly, but all that came out was a tremulous whisper. "Th-that's none of your business."

Shito's hands clamped down on her shoulders and he leaned down to glare into her eyes. "Tell me it wasn't Sotetsu!"

_What the...?_ Michiru stared up at Shito wide-eyed, then shook her head sharply. "It wasn't Aso."

Shito's lip curled upward, revealing an overlong incisor and low growl erupted in his chest. "It better _not_ have been that brat, Akatsuki."

Michiru shook her head faster. "It wasn't! It wasn't Chika!"

"Then _who_? Who took your first kiss?"

"My first...?" Michiru blinked and her memory gave her a hard kick. "Oh, that was Yomi, my first night in the dorm after the welcoming party."

For some reason beyond Michiru's understanding, Koyomi got _drunk_ on Fanta soda-pop. That night, Koyomi had literally passed out from drinking Fanta on Michiru's bed. Yomi, the _male_ spirit that inhabited Koyomi's body had abruptly awakened within the sleeping Koyomi and promptly pinned Michiru to the bed. Michiru not only had her first kiss stolen that night, she very nearly lost her virginity to Yomi's wandering fingers too.

"Yomi?" Shito jerked upright, but didn't release Michiru's shoulders. "Oh." He rolled his eyes and snorted. "Meaningless."

Michiru looked away and said nothing. She wasn't about to argue. Especially since she'd somehow succeeded in avoiding the issue of her _other_ kiss, the one with Kurou which had _plenty_ of meaning.

Shito abruptly captured her chin in his fingers. "Then I think perhaps-" He leaned close and his voice lowered to almost a purr. "-It is time you had your first _real_ kiss. Don't you?"

_Kiss...?_ Michiru's eyes widened. "Eh...?" Pure instinct made her jerk back a step.

Quick as an adder, Shito's hands rose to cup her face under the jaw, lifting her chin. Between one breath and the next, Shito's mouth came down on Michiru's parted lips. His lips were cool, but not cold. His breath ghosting into her mouth was even somewhat warm. His tongue swept fleetingly against hers.

Michiru blinked. _He doesn't taste dead._ In fact, he tasted like clean water with a hint of jasmine tea. There was however, a shadowy under-taste; something fleeting, yet almost electrical and...interesting. She closed her eyes to concentrate on exploring this flavor and reached out to clutch the lapels of Shito's blazer to hold him close. That she was rubbing her tongue against Shito's rather enthusiastically was completely incidental.

Shito froze, but didn't pull away, then he relaxed against her lips and moaned just a little.

Michiru could taste...whatever it was a little better, but not enough. She closed her lips around Shito's tongue and suckled. The electrical darkness slid into her mouth with the tingling sensation of bubbly soda pop. It wasn't sweet like soda, but it had a bite to it like strong ginger ale. It was _delicious._ She wanted _more_. Her eyes snapped open. She wanted it _all_.

Shito's sleepy burgundy gaze abruptly widened dramatically. He jerked back hard, breaking the kiss. "Kita, your eyes..."

Michiru's finger dug into the lapels of his blazer, unwilling to let him go. A low liquid growl rumbled in her chest. "Give it to me."

"What?" Shito leaned back, and grabbed onto Michiru's wrists. What the...? Kita...?"

"Give it!" Michiru pulled hard, trying to get him back down to where she could taste it again, but didn't quite have the strength. She needed to get higher. Abruptly, something within her expanded and wafted around her. It lifted her up off the ground to meet him at eye level. She jerked at his lapels. "Give it to me!"

Shito gasped and twisted, but couldn't break her hold on him. Eyes wide with alarm he shouted. "Kita, stop...!"

Michiru blinked, snapping out of her daze. "Shito?" A cloud of black feathers abruptly burst around her. Startled, she released his lapels – and fell to the ground, landing hard on her butt. She winced in pain. "Ouch!"

His body positioned as though to run, Shito stared at her wide-eyed with his lip curled baring a long incisor. "What the hell was _that_?"

Michiru blinked at him, thoroughly confused. "What was what?"

Shito took a step back from her. "Your eyes and you were floating!"

Michiru frowned. "What are you talking about?"

Shito's fists clenched at his sides. "I'm talking about the fact that you had fucking _wings_ – like a reaper!"

Michiru's eyes widened. "I did?" She looked to the side and rubbed her nose absently. "But that's not supposed to happen yet. I don't think...?"

Shito stiffened. "What?" He scowled at her. " _What's_ not supposed to happen yet?"

Michiru stiffened then put on a wide smile and waved her hands in denial. "Nothing! It's nothing!"

Shito loomed over her in open anger. "That was _not_ nothing! I know what I saw. Tell me." He pointed a long slender finger at her. "What the fuck is going on with you?"

"Um..." Michiru rose to her feet and brushed off her skirt. What could she tell him? That she was more than half _shinigami_ , reaper? She doubted he'd take that very well. "Um..." She looked up from under her bangs at him, which brought her gaze above her glasses, and brought the black ring around his throat into view.

Something fierce and _hungry_ shifted inside her.

Startled, she turned her gaze away.

Shito took a step toward her. "Kita! Tell me what's going on!"

Michiru turned to flee. "It's nothing!"

Shito grabbed her by the hood of her coat, halting her. "If you won't tell me, I know who will." He forcibly turned her around and shoved her before him. "Let's go."

"Go...?" Tripping ahead of Shito, Michiru grabbed onto Shito's wrist in an attempt to wrestle her hood from his hand, not that it did any good. He was far too strong. "Go where?"

Shito answered with a deep growl. "To see Bekko. I bet that stupid Ferryman knows exactly what's wrong with you."

Unfortunately, Bekko just _might_ know and he just might tell Shito. An icy shiver danced down her spine. "Let's not! Please! Let's not see Mr. Bekko!"

Shito stopped cold. "Are you going to tell me, then?"

Michiru struggled to loosen Shito's hand on her hood. "There's nothing to tell!" At least not _yet_ anyway. Not while she was still alive. "Really! Nothing's going on with me!"

"Really?" He smiled but it was more of an angry sneer. "Shall we see what Bekko has to say?" Shito shoved Michiru ahead of him out of the graveyard and off the school property toward town.

On their way through town, Shito was deaf to Michiru's pleading protests. However, more than a few pedestrians turned to stare at the tall boy shoving along the far smaller girl that was begging him to stop.

Shito shot a glare at a particularly nosy pair of old ladies. "Kita, you're making a spectacle of yourself."

Painfully shy, Michiru automatically closed her mouth, but tears still dripped down her cheeks. She just wasn't ready to have this part of her exposed just yet. She wasn't ready to lose her two closest friends!

At the run-down office building that housed Z-Loan, Shito shoved Michiru through the small door then up the steep and narrow steps. He slammed open the Z-Loan office door and shoved Michiru through it into the reception area. "Bekko! I need to talk to you."

"Shito?" Yuuta, the short and deceptively young-looking secretary and medic for Z-Loan trotted into the room. The black cat-eared hat that sat crooked on his mop of fly-away brown hair in combination with cat face sewn to the front of his knee-length bib overalls gave him the appearance of a middle-schooler - which he was far from being. A very adult scowl lowered his brows and tightened his mouth. "Shito, why is Chiru-Chiru crying?"

Shito shoved Michiru by Yuuta without even a glance toward the small secretary. He continued to push Michiru past the two worn couches framing the small coffee table that made up the entire reception area. He stomped past Yuuta's high-tech desk then through the open door of the inner office.

Although the back wall was comprised of a long row of windows, the blinds were down on every one making the small office semi-dark.

Michiru unbuttoned her coat and slipped out of it in one last desperate attempt to escape.

Shito released the coat, letting it fall to the floor, to grab her upper arm instead. "Bekko."

From behind the mound of books and papers on the worn wooden desk, a blond head lifted. Droopy blue eyes behind oval glasses gazed with mild annoyance at Shito then Michiru. "Oh, it's you." The ferryman straightened in his chair. As usual, his long blond hair was tied back loosely with a tatty gray ribbon and his white shirt with its ratty sleeve garters looked as though it had been slept in. He lifted a hand and used his middle finger to push his glasses higher on his nose. "I'm rather busy this morning..."

Shito's gaze narrowed and his mouth tightened. "So I see." His voice crackled with sarcasm. "This won't take long, and it's already afternoon."

Bekko turned his gaze to the wall clock. "Oh, why so it is." He turned back to Shito and Michiru and lifted one brow. "So...?"

Shito tilted his head toward Michiru. "What is Kita, _really_?"

~ * ~ 


	6. Chapter 6

**~ Six ~**

Bekko's faded blue gaze rolled to Michiru and his brows lifted.

Michiru flinched under his stare. Although the manager of Z-Loan looked human, he wasn't, at all. He was a boatman or oarsman of the river Styx, the river of death. If anyone could see what her soul really was, it was him.

Bekko turned back to look up at Shito. "A living human. Was that all?"

Michiru almost melted in relief.

"No way in hell is she human!"

Both of Bekko's brows lifted. "Hmm?"

Shito pointed a long finger at Michiru. "I just saw her sprout wings and float!"

"Oh?" Bekko turned his watery blue gaze on Michiru. "Really?"

Michiru shook her head and waved her hands before her. "I don't know what he's talking about!"

Shito slammed both hands down on Bekko's desk, making several papers slide to the floor. "She just tried to suck the life out of me, and when I tried to stop her, she sprouted wings and fucking floated!"

"Suck the _life_ out of you?" Bekko's brows lowered and his suddenly very bright blue eyes narrowed and focused on Shito. "How?"

Shito jerked back from the desk. "Err..." He looked away. "During a..." He swallowed. "A kiss."

Bekko blinked. "I didn't think you even _liked_ girls."

Shito bared his teeth and growled. " _Of course_ I like girls!" He looked away. "I'm merely...selective."

Somewhat flattered, Michiru's face warmed and she looked away.

"Hmm..." Bekko rubbed his nose. "Miss Kita?"

Michiru looked over at Bekko. "Yes?"

Bekko leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his belly. "You've been taking lessons from that little reaper on how to use your eyes to find illegal zombies, right?"

Michiru nodded. "Yes."

"Who taught you how to access the spirit plane?"

"Umm..." Michiru pressed her forefingers together and stared at them. "Yomi."

Bekko nodded thoughtfully. "The ghost, hmm... Oh, and who was it that taught you to pull souls out of bodies?"

"I think..." Michiru frowned. "I think I figured that one out on my own."

Bekko nodded absently then straightened in his chair to pull out a drawer. He pulled out a small test tube plugged with a cork and held it up. "Do you know what this is?"

Michiru's gaze zeroed in on the blue-black smoke that swirled inside the tube. She had no clue what was inside it, but she could almost smell the gingery bubbly effervescence of it. Her mouth watered.

Shito frowned. "What is that?"

Bekko absently waved the tube back and forth. "It is dark matter, for lack of a better name."

Michiru's eyes followed the tube's path back and forth.

Bekko watched Michiru with a slight narrowing of his eyes. "It's what allows the dead to walk. Living bodies normally only have trace amounts of it, but if exposed to large quantities of it, a body gains the ability to rise upon its death."

Shito frowned. "What has that got to do with anything?"

Bekko smiled sourly. "Remember when she was very nearly killed by that zombie teacher?" He nodded toward Michiru.

Shito nodded.

"Do you remember me saying that I could arrange to save her life, but I couldn't bring her back if she died?"

Shito frowned. "Yeah."

Bekko's gaze followed Michiru's near obsessive focus on the moving vial. "I couldn't bring her back because her body contains no dark matter what so ever. She is incapable of rising as a zombie."

Shito blinked. "Can't you just... _give_ her dark matter?"

"That's what I'd normally do with a contractor that doesn't have enough, but with Miss Kita that would not be a good idea."

Shito scowled. "I don't understand."

Bekko smiled sourly. "Do you know what a reaper eats?" He passed his hands together in an obvious magician's slight-of-hand maneuver. The tube disappeared.

Michiru blinked as though waking from sleep. "Huh?"

Shito frowned. "I've only ever seen the doll eat ordinary food."

Bekko smiled slyly. "As do you, but is that what you _really_ want to eat?"

Shito scowled then looked away.

Michiru bit down on her bottom lip. A zombie's natural food was raw flesh, preferably while still kicking and screaming. Even so, both Shito and Chika ate normal human food; cooked meat, grains, and vegetables in the dining hall with everyone else. However, she'd caught both Shito and Chika more than once eating raw hamburger and occasionally raw steak for a late-night snack.

Bekko nodded to Michiru. "Has Zarame told you anything about what he really eats?"

Michiru shook her head. "No."

Bekko leaned back in his chair. " _Shinigami_ eat dark matter, specifically the dark matter contained in the undead. _That_ is what they actually reap." His gaze slid to Shito. "Your ectoplasmic weapons, your gun and Chika's sword, do the same thing as a reaper's scythe; they cut loose the dark matter which sets the soul free to pass on, and keeps the corpse from rising again." He waved a negligent hand toward Shito. "However, the dark matter itself isn't gone, it merely floats free." His gaze shifted to Michiru. "Where a reaper would absorb it and _consume_ it."

"Fine, whatever." Shito curled his lip in open annoyance. "What does _that_ have to do with Kita?"

Bekko leaned forward to set both elbows on his desk then folded his hands together. "It wasn't your soul Miss Kita was sucking out of you, but your dark matter."

Shito just stared at Bekko for several very long seconds. "Are you saying she's _a reaper_?"

"I'm not!" Michiru waved her hands in open panic. "I'm not one yet!"

Shito turned to stare at her wide-eyed. " _Yet...?_ "

Bekko lifted a blond brow. "Oh, so he _did_ tell you about that?"

Tears formed in Michiru's eyes and slid down her cheeks. Her friendship with the guys was about to undergo a drastic change, and most likely _not_ for the better. Even so, she hoped they wouldn't completely write her off. "He said it won't happen until I die."

All expression bled from Shito's face. " _Die...?_ "

Bekko smiled sourly. "You might want to warn Akatsuki not to try kissing her. He has far less dark matter to spare than you do."

Shito turned sharply to Bekko. "Wait a sec... You just said she was human!"

Bekko shrugged. "She _is_ human."

Shito shook his head. "Then how...?"

Bekko picked up a stray paper and gazed at it. "Her body is completely human. It's her _soul_ that's not."

"What?" Shito scowled in open confusion. "How the hell did _that_ happen?"

"It didn't _happen_." Bekko lifted his gaze and gave Shito a bland stare. "Miss Kita was born that way. All reapers are born mortal." He tilted his head to the side. "More or less. However, they don't fully manifest until after their mortal life ends."

"Wait..." Shito bared his teeth in a snarl. "Then, you _knew_ what she was _from the beginning_?"

Bekko shrugged. "I'm a ferryman. Seeing souls is part of the job." His gaze slid to Michiru and he rubbed a finger along his nose. "However, that Miss Kita is manifesting her reaper aspect while she's still living is a bit...troubling."

Michiru waved her hands. "I didn't do it on purpose!"

Bekko smiled sourly. "I'm sure you didn't, which is _why_ it's so troubling." He abruptly frowned. "Speaking of the little reaper, he's not with you?"

Michiru shook her head. "I haven't seen him all day."

Shito stiffened then abruptly turned and walked out of the office.

Michiru sighed and picked up her coat from the floor. She slid into it and headed out of the little office. It was far too late to go back to school, so she dragged her heels toward the dorm. After the way Shito had handled the news of her...future, she was not looking forward to the explosive fit Chika was bound to have.

~ ZL ~

Ten steps from the decrepit dormitory's front doors, Michiru spotted Kurou, the tiny reaper, flying out the front doors. Apparently, he was not watching where he was going because he slammed into her chest and bounced back. Michiru caught him in her cupped hands. "There you are!"

Kurou shook his head sharply then zipped out of her palms. His tiny barely existent hands grabbed onto her black hood. "Come with me, now!" He flew over her shoulder, yanking on her hood.

"What?" She turned to keep from being throttled. _Why is everyone always grabbing my hood?_ "Where are we going?"

An explosive shout vibrated the cracked windows. "She's a _WHAT_?!" There was no mistaking Chika's voice.

Michiru winced. "Um, never mind." She turned back down the sidewalk and started trotting. "Lead the way!"

~ ZL ~

The tiny reaper led Michiru all the way across town. It was a long and tiring walk. When the setting sun began to stain the sky orange and red, Michiru considered buying a convenience store lunch box for dinner, but oddly enough, even though she had missed lunch, and was currently missing dinner, she wasn't hungry. "You know, if you had told me we were coming out here, we could have taken the bus."

The little doll-like lifted his nose and folded his hypothetical arms across his miniscule chest. "Even if I had told you, it would not have made sense to you."

Michiru's brows lifted. "What do you mean?"

The little reaper blew out a breath. "You measure distance and locations in human terms." He looked over his shoulder briefly. "I am not, nor have I ever been, human."

Michiru wilted. "Oh." Apparently, he'd meant what he'd said literally, not figuratively.

The sky darkened to a deep blue and the stars came out. Road lights switched on with a soft buzz and fewer cars began to pass by. The road began to climb, steeply. Michiru stopped to set her hands on her knees and huffed for breath. "Are we there yet?"

"Almost." The little reaper pointed ahead of them. "It's at the top of this hill."

"Top of this hill." Michiru straightened and continued trudging. "Okay."

At the top of the hill was an abandoned corporate building. Inside, it was dirty, creepy, and dark, but there didn't seem to be any zombies about. The reaper urged her up a decrepit and crumbling staircase.

Emerging on the roof, Michiru kicked a few loose tiles away from her feet and huffed for breath. "Can I sit down now?"

The little reaper zipped to the low wall on edge of the roof. "Sit here."

"Finally!" Michiru tripped across the refuse and scrap littered roof and sat down on the low wall with her feet dangling over the edge.

The view was spectacular. The whole city glowed with thousands of colored lights.

The reaper settled on her shoulder. "You're not bothered by being this high up?"

Michiru looked down. There were at least ten stories between her dangling feet and the distant trash-littered ground. Not even a flutter of unease went through her. The view didn't bother her in the least. She frowned. "Huh, I thought I was. I guess I'm not anymore."

The little reaper sighed heavily. "Is it true, what the Chinese brat said, that you...manifested; you shifted into your reaper form?"

Michiru winced. _Damn..._ Apparently, Shito had gotten back before her long enough to tell that to more than just Chika. She plucked at her maroon skirt and kicked her feet. "I... I don't know. I _think_ I remember floating for a little bit, but I wasn't really paying attention at the time."

"Che-!" The little reaper rubbed at his head with a barely existent hand. "I _knew_ being around those two zombie brats was a bad idea!"

Michiru looked over at him. "Huh? Kurou?"

The little reaper blew out a breath. "You have a reaper's soul, that why you have those eyes."

Michiru nodded. "You told me that last night."

"A zombie rises because their corpse is saturated with a substance that traps the soul. That substance is what we reapers take."

Michiru's brows lifted. "Dark matter, right?"

The reaper turned to look at her. "Bekko finally opened his mouth, did he?"

Michiru hunched down and wrung her hand together. "I spoke to him today. He said that dark matter was what made a zombie rise, and that it was what reapers...eat."

The little reaper nodded. "It is, and apparently you've absorbed so much dark matter from being around so many released zombies that you're actually manifesting your reaper soul before your death."

Michiru nibbled on the bottom of her lip. "Is that bad?"

He looked over at her with sad eyes. "It means your reaper soul is trying to break free before its time. Once that happens, your mortal body will cease to exist."

_Cease to exist...?_ Michiru could only stare at him.

The little reaper fluttered off her shoulder to float before her. "If you plan to make it to the next winter in your mortal form, you must stop zombie-hunting, especially in the company of those two brats."

Michiru's eyes widened. "Stop...? But I can't!"

He narrowed his gaze on her. "You _must_. Every time they slay a zombie in your presence, your reaper soul absorbs and consumes the free-floating dark matter they cut loose."

Michiru shook her head. She didn't remember any such thing. "I don't...!"

He zipped right into her face and shouted. "You _do_! I watched you do it! You absorb it right through your skin. Haven't you notice how light and err...happy you feel after a zombie is released?"

She looked away. She did feel a bit euphoric after a soul was released, but she'd thought that was merely happiness that the soul could finally move on.

"I should have put a stop to that sooner." The little reaper turned away. "I knew that it was strengthening your reaper soul, but I didn't realize how much."

Michiru shook her head. "But Shito and Chika need me!"

Kurou waved a tiny scythe in her direction. "They _don't_. They did fine before they knew you. They'll do fine without you."

She wasn't needed. Not a pleasant thought. "But I owe Bekko...!"

The reaper shook his head. "You owe him nothing. You _can't_ be indebted to him because you _can't_ be contracted. In point of fact, that ferrymen contracts only the undead because he is forbidden to endanger living mortals."

She frowned. "Then why did Bekko let me go zombie hunting?"

The reaper narrowed his gaze on her. "Did he specifically _order_ you to go?"

Michiru frowned. "Err... No, I did it to help Shito and Chika."

The reaper nodded. "Free choice. You decided to do that on your own. If you got yourself killed, his hands were clean."

"What about my debt to Bekko?"

"I just told you..."

"Shito and Chika are carrying it for me because Bekko _did_ save my life!"

Kurou's gaze narrowed. "Yes, he did. He extended your life even though he's forbidden to interfere with a mortal's life span, and _fully aware_ that you would become a reaper once your mortal life ended. In other words, he deliberately _prevented_ the birth of a new reaper."

Michiru blinked, not quite sure what to think about that.

Kurou looked away. "However, what's done is done, and if you wish to keep what little mortal life you have left, you will stay the hell away from Zombie Loan, and in particular, those two brats."

Michiru hung her head. "I... I don't think I can do that."

The little reaper snorted. "I don't think you'll get much choice in the matter. If I understand Bekko's motives right, once he knows that your lifespan is being shortened by overexposure simply by being in the presence of his pet zombies, my guess is that he'll order you to stay away."

Michiru looked over at the tiny reaper in wide-eyed horror. "What? Why?"

"To keep you alive for as long as possible." He smiled sourly. "After all, it is in his best interests to avoid your transformation into a reaper."

Michiru frowned in confusion "I don't understand. Why would Bekko _not_ want me to be a reaper?"

Kurou rolled his one visible eye. "Bekko is a business man, fledgling. Undead released by reapers cut into his profits."

Michiru shook her head. "That sounds really...petty."

Kurou waved both hypothetical arms. " _Think_ about who you're talking about! He makes use of a tea-bag twice, sleeps in his office so he doesn't have to rent an apartment, and won't throw away a sheet of paper that hasn't been used on both sides. Tell me that _isn't_ petty?"

Michiru winced. Kurou had a point.

The tiny reaper hovered close to Michiru's face. "Because the one reaper that operates in this area is out of commission - me, that man has been making astronomical profits. You'll notice that he has done absolutely nothing to assist me in the return of my core."

Michiru fisted both hands. "I'm doing my best!"

Kurou smiled sourly. "Kind of hard to do anything if the bastard that has my core isn't anywhere near here, or even on this plane, _ne_?"

Michiru covered her face with her hands. "I'm sorry..."

Kurou sighed and patted her shoulder. "It's fine, really. Once you become a _shinigami_ , a reaper, it won't take you but ten seconds to locate that bastard, no matter what plane he's hiding on, and less than that to get it out of him. Then you can just hand it to me."

Michiru nodded, but she didn't feel any better. "I'm sorry it's taking so long."

The tiny reaper shrugged. " _Shinigami_ exist for eons; that's centuries of centuries. A handful of years like this, while annoying, is actually barely a drop in the bucket." He snorted. "It's not _that_ difficult to wait while you finish out your mortal life span."

Michiru looked away. What Kurou had said was obviously meant to comfort her, but all it did was make her feel even more useless.

~ * ~ 


	7. Chapter 7

**~ Seven ~**

Kicking her feet over the ten-storey drop of the abandoned building, Michiru nibbled on her thumb nail. Was she really turning into a _shinigami_ , a reaper before her time? Was quitting Zombie Loan really her only choice? If she quit, she'd have to move too. The dorm was strictly for "assets to the school," Miss Shimotsuki had told her. In other words, Z-Loan associates.

There _had_ to be another way!

She turned to the tiny reaper. "Can't you just...take the dark matter out?"

Kurou shook his tiny doll head, the tuft of red hair swinging from one side to the other. "Your soul consumes dark matter instantly. However, because of the highly concentrated amounts you're being exposed to, it's accelerating your soul's growth. If this continues, very soon your soul will be more than your mortal body can contain."

"What am I, an egg or something?" She gave him a sour smile. "Am I going to hatch?"

The tiny reaper shrugged. "More like, the opposite. Your reaper soul will absorb your mortal body, leaving only your _shinigami_ form - a form made of spirit that no living mortal can see."

Michiru's chest tightened making it hard to breathe. "Oh." She'd be invisible; gone to everyone she knew - except the people at Z-Loan. However, as a reaper she'd be their enemy. They wouldn't want to...associate with her anymore. She clasped her hands tight to hide their trembling. "Well, I..." Unfortunately, her voice came out just a little too breathless. "At least I won't have the power to destroy the world."

The reaper stiffened, his hair standing on end. " _What_ did you say?!"

Michiru waved her hand. "It's nothing. Just a silly dream I had, a long time ago." She sniffed and rubbed her eyes. "D-does it h-hurt, becoming a reaper?"

A minor explosion of power released behind her and then two long leather-strapped arms closed around to pull her back against a strong warm chest redolent of the scent of leather, feathers, and midnight. A deep penetrating voice whispered by her ear. "It does, but only for a short while, and you won't go through it alone. I'll be with you."

Michiru's chest tightened, squeezing her heart so hard it ached, and her lungs so tightly she could barely breathe, but no tears came. Her eyes remained dry. She reached up and clutched the arms that held her. The long black feathers of his collar were warm on her fingers.

He lifted his left hand, for once without a glove to cover it, and the long elegant fingers reached over to delicately pluck her glasses from her nose.

"Ah!" Michiru grabbed for them. "My glasses!"

"See me." With his other hand, he cupped her chin and turned her head. "See me with your unfettered gaze, fledgling." Her eyes met his uncovered face, a face he hid from everyone but her. The eye that was scarred was closed, but the other was open and the color of crushed violets. His elegant mouth was drawn down in a frown. Behind him, his immense black wings blotted out the sky. He leaned close and his lips touched hers.

Startled, her lips parted to receive a caress from his tongue. He tasted of fresh water and midnight. He tasted... _right_. Following the urging of the broad hand under her chin, she shyly returned the caress.

His hand left her chin and his arm slid around her waist. He drew her back against him, off the low wall, and down onto his lap where he sat cross-legged on the roof, his wings mantled behind him.

Startled, she broke the kiss and set her hands down on his thighs, her bottom nestled against his crotch. The leather was warm under her fingers and the muscle beneath it very firm.

He cupped her chin again and turned her head to draw her mouth back to his.

She closed her eyes and opened her mouth to him.

He gave her a far deeper and more aggressive caress with his tongue that included a tender bite to her bottom lip.

Instinctively, she replied in kind, catching his bottom lip in her teeth gently to suckle on it.

He moaned into her mouth and his right hand slid down from her chin to her throat. His fingers unfastened the buttons on her coat, then slipped under her jacket to cup her right breast. He squeezed lightly.

She squeaked in surprise and broke the kiss to stare at his hand under her jacket and atop her clothed breast. Her heart pounded in her throat, but something low and deep inside jolted hungrily.

He rubbed her clothed breast in a slow circular motion. At her ear he whispered. "Have I frightened you?" The purr of his midnight voice slid straight down and settled deep in her belly.

_Was_ she frightened? Her nipple was getting tight and... _sensitive_ under his palm. Her bra made it itch. Warm curls started spilling downward and gathering in that empty and _hungry_ place below her belly. Her mouth suddenly dry, she licked her lips. "Not- Not frightened, just..."

He sighed against her ear. It almost sounded like amusement. "Not frightened, just...?" His left hand drifted down from her waist to her knee. He pushed her leg outward and over his folded knee. He released her breast to use his right hand to press her right leg over this other folded knee, spreading her legs scandalously wide.

Leaning back against his chest, she sucked in a sharp breath and trembled, but didn't resist. She _couldn't_ resist. Her body _didn't want_ to resist him.

His right hand lifted back up to cup her breast and his left hand moved up her thigh to settle right above where her tall maroon stocking ended. His thumb pressed warmly against the bare skin of her inner thigh. "Still, not frightened?"

"A l-little em-embarrassed, maybe?" Actually, she was a _lot_ embarrassed, but that didn't seem to be enough to want to make him stop.

"But not frightened?" His right hand moved down to the hem of the blouse of her uniform then slid underneath. His fingers skimmed up the bare skin of her belly to stop at the bottom edge of her lace bra.

She bit down on her bottom lip. His hand was _under_ her blouse. Okay, that _was_ a little scary. She twisted a bit to the right, not quite sure if she wanted to escape his fingers or not.

"Oh?" He chuckled right next to her ear. "Have I frightened you yet?"

She licked her lips. _What should I do?_ She should stop him, that was the right thing to do, but some part of her was far more interested in seeing how far he'd go.

"No answer?" He shoved her lace bra up and off her breasts only to cover one of them with his warm palm. He squeezed, his fingers sinking into the soft flesh then his fingers captured a stiff and sensitive nipple.

A bolt of erotic heat pulsed through her. She gasped and grabbed onto his arm, but couldn't quite manage the resolve to pull his hand away.

He rubbed the captured nipple between his finger and thumb. "My, my... You're braver than I thought."

Erotic fire blazed straight down to her clit as though the nerves were somehow connected to her nipple. She released a startled whimper and wiggled in his lap while not quite accidentally pushing her breast more firmly into his palm.

He chuckled softly. His other hand, the one on her thigh, abruptly slid up under her skirt. Two fingers pressed right up against her cleft with only the thin cotton of her panties between her increasingly sensitive clit and his fingers.

Her entire body jolted. "Ah...!" Her knees lifted and snapped together, trapping his hand between her thighs. She grabbed onto that arm with both hands. "W-what are you doing?"

"Giving you pleasure." His fingers on her nipple tightened to delicately tug then he rubbed the swollen flesh.

The erotic ache in her nipple was echoed by a delicious jolt in her clit and a hungry clench deep in her belly. She let out a small squeak and tossed her head back against his shoulder. Her trembling knees parted all by themselves. She panted for breath and fought to think straight. "P-pleasure?"

His hand freed from her thighs, the fingers pressing against her panties began to rub up and down. "Is this not pleasurable?" His thumb joined his fingers to rub against her clit in the opposite direction.

It _was_ pleasurable. She writhed and felt wetness begin to form under his fingers. It was _too_ pleasurable, and yet not enough. Not _nearly_ enough. "It's...!" Her fingers bit into his arm. It's...!" She released a long trembling moan and shuddered hard.

He leaned down to whisper against her ear. "Have I finally succeeded in frightening you?"

"You...!" She turned to glare at him, but couldn't quite stop her bottom lip from either protruding or trembling. "Y-you're teasing me!"

His brows lifted and he blinked. His fingers stilled on her. "Hmm... I suppose I am." He smiled. "Allow me to correct that." He removed his fingers only to shove his entire hand into her panties.

She gasped and froze, not quite believing what had just happened.

Bare fingers slid between her tender folds. "Oh?" His lips brushed her ear. "Someone is certainly... _wet_."

Even as delight and shock danced up her spine, hot embarrassment filled Michiru's face. "Don't...!" She turned away. "Don't say that!"

"Why not?" A wicked smile curled his lips. "Is it not truth?" He wiggled a finger into her opening and the pad of his thumb brushed against the bundle of nerves nestled at the apex of her moist flesh.

Her entire body clenched and her mouth opened, but not a sound came out.

Within her panties, his finger wiggled deeper into her body while his thumb rubbed against the sensitive pearl at the very top, stirring her flesh and making obscenely moist sounds. At the same time, his other hand squeezed her breast and tugged on her captured nipple.

Lightning bolts of erotic delight jolted through her, causing her back to arch. Her hips bucked against his fingers and small needy sounds erupted from her lips. Under his merciless dancing fingers, the pressure coiled and tightened in her belly. Her gasps became moans and whimpers that increased in volume and rose in pitch. Her breath caught in her throat and she froze on the precipice. She was going to...

He whispered against her ear. "Cum for me."

Something inside her abruptly clenched violently hard then released. A torrent of euphoric carnal pleasure filled her belly and burst from her lips in a scream.

He covered her mouth with his lips, swallowing the scream, stealing her breath - and shoved his finger in deep, breeching the thin membrane then going beyond.

Even while writhing under the flood of raw pleasure, Michiru felt the tear inside her, the loss of her virginity. Not because it hurt, but because it _didn't_. Compared to being stabbed, cut, bitten, or punched, the pain was so very small it was almost a disappointment.

Abruptly, something deep in her belly snapped and sparked. A bolt of intensity blazed upward and out of her mouth, straight into his.

Her eyes opened wide in shock.

Kurou's eyes were just as wide open - both of them. The one on the right was a dark pupil with an iris of vivid violet, but the other, the one that was normally covered and hidden, was pitch black hole of deep night with a single burning star very far in the distance.

Something inside her abruptly released, unwinding like a skein of silk delivering a wave of euphoria that washed through her. It wasn't quite as strong as an orgasm, but it was definitely pleasant. Following in its wake was the tingling sensation of every hair on her body rising then falling. She moaned.

Kurou eyes closed and swallowed as though he'd drunk something from her mouth. He released her lips and licked them. He abruptly shook his head and looked down at her with his one violet eye. "Are you all right?"

She nodded then licked her lips. "Yes, I think." She turned her hips a bit, shifting the fingers within her. She looked away, examining what she felt in comparison to what she'd heard from her classmates. "Did you just...?"

He pulled his fingers from her leaving a mild ache behind. He held them up and examined them. A small bit of blood smeared his first two fingers and his palm. "I opened you, yes."

She bit down on her bottom lip. Not quite sure what to say to that. What _did_ one say to the man who took your virginity with his hand? "Why...?"

"To make our first joining one of pleasure, not of pain." He leaned down to press his lips briefly to her brow.

_First joining..._ _Did he mean se-_? Michiru's brain went completely blank for a whole two breaths. "Oh." She frowned slightly. "Um... What was that...at the end?"

He frowned as well and licked his lips again. "It tasted like...your developing core released a part of its essence."

Michiru blinked up at him. "It did?"

He looked away. "Though I don't know how...? Being mortal, that shouldn't be possible. You shouldn't have enough to do so, though you _are_ very close to manifestation..."

"Then you _can_ take my dark matter?"

Kurou shook his head briefly. "No, you consume dark matter instantly. What I drank was a piece of your developing _shinigami_ core."

Michiru shivered just a little. "M-my core? Is that good or bad?"

Kurou eyed her thoughtfully. "Good, I think. It is possible that if I drink enough of it, I may be able to keep you from...manifesting before your time."

Hope filled Michiru's heart. "Then I won't have to leave Z-Loan?"

He snorted. " _That_ is your only concern?"

She frowned. "Is there something else?"

He rolled his eyes. "It seems...not." He shook his head. "However..."

She tilted her head to the side. "However...?"

He tilted his head thoughtfully. "It is also possible that by passing these ... portions of your reaper core to me, my core might recover...eventually."

Michiru's eyes widened. "Wait... Are you saying that taking some of my um, core will make yours _come back_?"

He looked down at her with a slight frown. "I have not lost the entirety of my core!" He looked away. "Merely a large portion of it." His gaze sought hers again. "So, yes, it is _possible_. The sharing of cores is how paired _shinigami_ normally heal such damage. However, are you _sure_ you want to do...this?"

Michiru smiled brightly. "If it will help you then I want to! I definitely want to! In fact, take as much as you like!"

He snorted in sour humor. "Thank you, but..." He looked off to the side and his cheeks began to turn pink. "That is... The sharing of..." He worried at his bottom lip. It was almost...cute. He abruptly blew out a soft breath and met her gaze. "It happened _because_ you reached orgasm."

"O-oh..." Michiru felt her face warm. She lowered her gaze and plucked at the lapel of his long coat. "S-so we just have to do...um, _this_ some m-more?"

Kurou sighed and rubbed his eyes with one hand. "Fledgling..."

Her pale brows lifted and she tilted her head to the side to look at him askance. "Yes...?"

He stared down at her. "I would gladly do more of... _this_ with you. However..." He lowered his hand to clasp one of hers. "I am not a patient man. Are you truly prepared for what more of _this_ means?"

Michiru frowned just a little. She was well aware that Kurou was the impatient type, especially when he wanted something, but she wasn't quite sure what he was implying. "Um...?"

Kurou lifted his other hand to cup her chin and captured her gaze. "I am asking if you are ready to give your body to me?"

Michiru's brows climbed to her hairline and her face burned with heat. "M-my b-body...?"

"Michiru-" He took her captured hand and pulled it down to press it against his crotch. "- _This_ is what you do to me."

Under Michiru's palm a hot hard ridge pushed his pants outward. _That's his...?_ She hadn't thought she could be any more embarrassed. She had been wrong. However, it was also undeniably exciting. _She_ had done this to him. She _excited_ him. It was more than a little...flattering.

He leaned closer and his voice dropped to a midnight whisper. "I want you. I want to be _inside_ you very badly. Will you let me have you?"

She could not pull her gaze from his, nor could she resist closing her fingers around the ridge under her palm. He _wanted_ her. He wanted _her_. A spat of moisture spilled from her body to soak her already damp panties. "O-okay."

His one violet eye widened. "You are willing to...with _me_?"

Impulsively she turned all the way around to grab onto the feathered lapels of his coat, pulled herself up, and pressed a quick kiss to his lips then pulled back to look him straight in the eye. "I... I am."

Kurou cupped the back of her head and abruptly pulled her into a demanding, devouring kiss that sucked the breath from her. Just as abruptly, he pulled back and smiled grimly. "Good because my patience has reached its limit."

Her mind still short-circuited by that last kiss, Michiru blinked up at him. "Eh...?"

~ * ~


	8. Chapter 8

**~ Eight ~**

"Stand up, fledgling." Seated cross-legged on the rooftop of the abandoned building, Kurou pushed Michiru onto her feet.

More than a little drained from the orgasm that had just claimed her, she wavered on rubbery knees, but somehow remained upright facing him.

Kurou's bare hands slid up under her skirt then tugged her panties down her thighs.

Instinct had Michiru grab for his wrists. "W-wait!"

Kurou looked up at her, lifted a red brow then smiled, a touch of wickedness showing in the upward curve of his lips. "Fledgling, we cannot do this with your panties _on_." He looked off to the side. "Actually, we could-" His gaze met hers and the wicked smile returned. "-But the...friction might prove a bit uncomfortable for you."

"I..." Michiru felt her face heat. She didn't want to say she forgot. That sounded silly, even to her. However, having someone take her panties off of her was just... It just hadn't happened before. She released his wrists. "I was just..."

"Frightened?" His long fingers slid her panties slowly down her legs to stop at her ankles.

Michiru's face heated even more. "Surprised." She looked away briefly. "I was just surprised, that's all." Encouraged by his hands, she stepped out of them.

"Ah, I see." He crumpled her panties in his hand then tucked them away somewhere under his coat. His warm hands returned to her legs, sliding up her stockings to her bare thighs. "Michiru?"

"Yes?" She blinked down at him.

"Kiss me."

She set her hands on his feathered shoulders, and leaned down to press her parted lips against his.

His lips parted to take her mouth with a demanding tongue, and his arms came around her to pull her against his chest. He pinned her against his chest with one arm, his other hand urging her legs wider, to straddle his hips. That hand moved downward to...do something, somewhere under her. He groaned into her mouth then began to lower her into his lap.

Reeling under the onslaught of his hungry tongue, Michiru obligingly bent her knees and lowered herself. Something hot, stiff, and much thicker than a finger bumped the crease of her thigh. Startled she pulled away from the kiss.

Kurou opened his unscarred violet eye halfway, looking at her with his gaze hooded. His voice came out in a hoarse whisper. "Put your arms around my neck."

Suddenly nervous, Michiru wrapped her arms tightly around his neck.

He chuckled against her ear. "Oh, so _now_ you're frightened?"

Michiru swallowed. "Maybe a l-little?"

Kurou pressed a kiss to the side of her neck. "Relax. I have already removed the barrier." Beneath her, he moved that hot, rigid point from the crease of her thigh to rub it against her slick flesh. "All that remains-" He centered the point against the entrance to her body. "- is pleasure." He pulled her down, and onto him.

Something hard, hot, and _thick_ pressed into her, spreading her wide and invading her. She gasped and clutched at his neck. It was happening! She was having... _sex_!

"More, Michiru." He pressed down on her hips, urging her to take him further into her body. "Take all of me."

After a small eternity, her thighs met his. Michiru bit back a groan. Inside of her, he was thick, uncomfortably thick, but it didn't actually hurt. It just ached from being stretched so wide.

He groaned against her ear. "Gods, you're tight."

Michiru hissed a tiny bit. "No, you're _big_."

He chuckled hoarsely. "Enough with the compliments. I am already too close to my limit." He slid a hand under her skirt to grip her bare buttock then rolled his hips under her, moving within her and urging her body to open wider around him.

She groaned. Even so, her body did loosen its grip on him, letting him slide within her with a bit more ease.

He pushed her back enough to catch her gaze with his open eye then kissed her, hard and hungry. His free hand came forward to tug the button of her jacket open, then he shoved her blouse upward.

With her bra still pushed up above her breasts, a cool breeze against her skin announced that her blouse had been pushed well above her breasts. She gasped against his lips.

He released her mouth to lean her back over his arm, his shaft shifting within her.

Off balance, she reached back to set her hands on his thighs and caught sight of her breasts exposed to the night sky, and his hungry one-eyed gaze pinned to her erect nipples.

He caught her gaze briefly then lowered his head to capture a nipple with his lips - and tongue.

An exquisite curl of erotic fire lanced from her nipple to her clit. She gasped and reached up to grab onto his feathered collar. Her hips rolled, moving him inside her. A delicious spark of delight ignited inside her and expanded into a pang of carnal hunger that forced a moan from her lips.

He groaned in counterpoint and his hand on her buttock pushed her upward on his shaft, then pushed her back down. It made an obscenely wet sound, but the voluptuous sensation of his firm flesh making exquisite contact with something deep within her drained her mind of all thoughts but one: _more_. She wanted _more_.

Raw feminine instinct drove her to push up with her own knees, while pulling at his collar, then back down again hard. That pang of pleasure returned deep and strong as a temple bell. A gasping moan left her lips and her eyes closed partway. The echo of pleasure barely faded before she did it again, then again, her soft gasping cries punctuating her efforts.

She barely noticed that he was moaning with her, the deep tones of his gasping voice rising with an urgency that matched hers. She barely felt the hand under her butt pushing her upward and encouraging greater speed, and stronger, harder falls.

Suddenly both of his arms closed around her, holding her tight while his hips hammered upward, driving his shaft, his _cock_ , up into her with brutal strength.

Inside her, something fierce and wonderful began to crest. She knew that once she reached a certain height she going to fall - and she wanted that fall with every fiber of her being. She knotted both of her hands into the feathers of his collar to push herself down hard into his thrusts, her cries still soft but gaining in desperation.

All too soon, she reached the crest and teetered on the precipice, her body freezing in an arch, her breath stilling in her chest. Her mouth opened on a soundless cry; waiting.

His arms tightened around her like steel bands and he stilled too, his cock deep within her. His guttural gasping cry fell upon her ear and something hot, thick and wet begin to pump into her. Abruptly, he began driving his cock even harder into her, the thrusts sporadic, and desperate.

Pleasure exploded deep in her belly and finally, she fell. The rush of euphoria released her breath and with it a wail of utter joy. In that moment, something dark and electrical burst from within her belly to race upward like a bolt of lightning. Pleasure blazed through her once again. Instinct alone made her grab for his face to press her mouth to his, pushing her tongue past his parted lips to deliver up that fierce darkness.

His tongue swept against hers He swallowed, and swallowed, then shuddered and groaned.

She fell limp against his broad chest, exhausted yet rolling with the heady fumes of an exquisite and indescribable pleasure. A smile curled her lips and the tiniest of giggles left her lips. "I wanna do _that_ again."

A rumbling chuckle escaped her lover's lips and he swept a hand down her back. "We shall, fledgling. We shall _indeed_."

~ ZL ~

Michiru woke in her own bed tucked under the comforting weight of her thick blankets. Morning light spilled through her open window. She blinked at her cracked and water-stained ceiling in confusion. She was back? Or had that all been a dream?

A tiny snore caught her ear.

She lifted the blankets to see the tiny reaper snuggled between her breasts - her _bare_ breasts. Her eyes widened and she lifted the blankets higher just to be sure of what she was seeing. It was true; she was _utterly naked_.

A flurry of hard knocks thundered and Chika's loud boisterous voice came through the door. "Gopher, you awake yet? You're gonna be late for breakfast."

Michiru jerked the covers back down. "Yes! I'm getting up!" She gently scooped the tiny reaper up in her hands and rolled out from under her covers to set her feet on the floor. Leaning against the bed on her belly for balance, she deposited the little manikin on her pillow.

With a frown of confusion she stood up to get her school uniform. Two of her uniforms hung neatly on their hangers against the wall, but the third, the one she'd worn yesterday... The hanger was empty. Her black, hooded coat lay in a heap on the floor.

It was then that her body's aches made themselves known, loud and clear. Specifically, the ache low in her belly, as though something _large_ had been lodged in there. That was also when something thick and wet slid down her inner thighs. Her eyes opened wide and her mouth fell open in shock. It _hadn't_ been a dream. She'd... She'd had... _sex_ with Kurou.

And it had been _glorious_. A gentle pang deep inside her let her know, in no uncertain terms, that her body was more than eager for _more_.

However, first things first. Michiru threw on her bathrobe and stepped into her slippers. She had to wash, and _thoroughly_ , before any of the embarrassingly sharp-nosed zombies that lived in the dorm detected what she'd been up to. With desperate haste, she grabbed her pan of toiletries from the stool by the door and bolted out the door, racing for the shower room.

~ ZL ~

Unfortunately, taking a shower meant she was very late for breakfast - and school. She only had a second to grab a couple of pieces of buttered toast from the kitchen and snatch her cloth-wrapped lunch box from the counter before tearing out of the building and bolting for the school.

Michiru made it to class with only a few seconds to spare, and once again thanked the powers above that she did not share a class with either Shito or Chika.

However, exhaustion caught up with her a full hour before lunch. She managed, just barely, to stay awake in class, but her concentration was completely shot. Luckily, most of the class work was review for the upcoming exams. Her notes were already in order so she was able to fake her way through the lesson.

When lunch break finally arrived, Michiru desperately wanted to find a quiet corner to take a nap. However, the moment the bell rang, sudden and voracious hunger made her dive into the lunch box Koyomi had packed for her.

With a loud screech, Yumi shoved her desk across the floor and against Michiru's. She dropped into the seat and tilted her head, her chin-length dark hair sweeping against her cheek. "Goodness, Kita! You're scarfing that down like you haven't eaten in days!"

With another ear-splitting screech across the floor, Matsumoto, added her desk to the set. She dropped into her chair and tucked a lock of her long brown hair behind her ear. "Seriously, Kita, if you eat that fast, you'll only throw it back up again."

Yumi winked at Matsumoto. "Not to mention that it's not very lady-like."

Michiru looked down at her half-finished lunch. "Oh, but... I'm hungry."

Matsumoto opened her lunchbox and pulled out her chopsticks. "So, what happened yesterday?"

Michiru tilted her head to the side, her exhaustion-clouded mind drawing a complete blank. "Yesterday?"

Yumi rolled her eyes and pried open her square black lunchbox. "You ran out to go to the toilet and never came back, remember?"

Michiru blinked. Abruptly the memory of being intercepted coming out of the ladies room by Shito blared bright and clear in her mind's eye. Her face heated. Then the rest of that memory crowded into her brain - of Shito's _kiss_. Her face began to burn.

Overcome with acute embarrassment, she covered her face with her hands and lied. "I... I wasn't feeling well, so, I-I went home."

Well, technically, it wasn't a _complete_ lie. She _had_ gone back to the dorm - after Shito dragged her all the way to Z-Loan. Then again, she hadn't actually entered the dorm before Kurou led her to that abandoned building on the hilltop. She still had no clue how she'd _gotten_ home after-

After having _sex_.

Her hands still covering her burning face, she dropped her head to her desk. "So sorry."

Yumi leaned close. "You were feeling _that_ bad?"

Matsumoto shook her head. "Sometimes my periods are that bad too."

Michiru didn't bother to tell them that it had nothing to do with... _that_. It was just simpler to let people think what they liked about her occasional absences, most of them zombie related. They usually made better excuses for her than anything she could come up with anyway.

Yumi chuckled and lowered her voice. "You know Michiru, after you have sex, your periods will get much easier."

Michiru, who frequently had very bad cramps during _that_ time of the month, abruptly sat up hopefully. "Really?"

Yumi froze where she sat, the rolled egg she held in her chopsticks falling back into her box.

Matsumoto's gaze narrowed. "Actually, yeah."

Michiru smiled. "Oh, that'll be nice."

Matsumoto's eyes widened and her mouth fell open. Her gaze darted to Yumi.

Yumi continued to stare open-mouthed at Michiru.

Masumoto smiled and casually selected a mini hot-dog from her lunchbox. "So, Michiru, do you have a boyfriend, yet?"

Michiru looked away and frowned a little. Could Kurou be considered a... _boyfriend_? A vision of the stern-gazed, violet-eyed reaper in black leather with his mop of scarlet hair and massive black wings filled Michiru's mind. Him? A _boyfriend?_

She very nearly rolled her eyes. _Not in a million years._ A flash of what she'd... _they'd_ done last night burned though her. A _lover_ though... Her gaze lowered and the warmth in her face spread out to her ears. A small unconscious smile lifted the corner of her mouth. _Lover, definitely_.

Masumoto's eyes went wide and her mini hot-dog fell from her chopsticks. She licked her lips. "Michiru, is there something you want to tell us?"

Distracted from her reverie, Michiru blinked at her classmate. "Um..." She smiled very wide. "N-no, not really."

Yumi stood up from her desk, her chair screeching on the floor. "You _do_ have a boyfriend!"

Alarmed, Michiru waved her hands. "No, no! He's not like that!"

"He...?" Matsumoto leaned eagerly across her desk. "Oh my God...! Who is it? You have _got_ to tell us!"

"Yes, do tell." A soft, masculine, and frighteningly elegant voice growled directly behind Michiru. A heavy, supernaturally powerful hand dropped onto her shoulder, pinning her to her chair and crushing all hope of escape. "Who is this _boyfriend_?"

The blood drained from Michiru's face. She didn't need to turn around to know that the hand on her shoulder was Shito's. She swallowed hard and looked up anyway.

Shito was smiling, but his burgundy gaze was narrow with open suspicion.

Matsumoto stood up to face Shito with an eager smile. "Are you...?"

Shito's smile abruptly warmed. "Oh, was Michiru telling you about our kiss, yesterday?"

Michiru's eyes widened in shock, Shito _never_ used her first name. However, of far more importance was that he'd just admitted to _kissing_ her. She covered her mouth with both hands. _Oh my God, I can't believe he said that!_

Masumoto and Yumi dropped into their chairs with matching dumbfounded expressions.

Shito leaned down next to Michiru's, his silky black hair brushing against her cheek. His smile turned decidedly sly and his arms slid down to enfold her in a bone-crushing embrace. "So what exactly, have you told them, Michiru- _chan_?"

Michiru squeaked in alarm. _Michiru-chan?_ She shook her head. "Nothing! I didn't say anything!"

He turned to press his nose against her neck and took a subtle sniff.

She closed her eyes and prayed fervently that her hurried shower that morning had erased the traces of ... last night's _activities_.

"Did you change your soap?" Shito's tone was mildly inquisitive.

Michiru's eyes snapped open. Her _soap_? "Um, actually, yeah." She _was_ usinga different brand from before, but only because Kurou had made a point of fussing over her preferred strawberry scented bath-wash. To paraphrase his more colorful speech, he didn't like smelling _sugary_ after sharing a bath with her.

Matsumoto choked. "You can tell _that_?"

Shito smiled wickedly. "Of course." He took a more obvious sniff behind her ear and purred against her neck. "Sandalwood... I like it." He abruptly stood, his hand closing on Michiru's shoulder once more. "Don't forget to meet me after school by the graveyard." He patted her shoulder heavily. "Michiru- _chan_." He then turned on his heel and walked away as silently as he'd arrived.

Michiru swallowed hard. She was in _so_ much trouble, she just _knew_ it.

Both Yumi and Matsumoto leaped out of their chairs to hover in Michiru's face.

Matsumoto's whispered enthusiastically. "So, how long have you known each other?"

"Known...?" Michiru stared at Matsumoto. "Um, almost two years now, I think?" Well, she'd met both Chika and Shito in her sophomore year of high school so...

Matsumoto whistled. "Wow... And all this time I thought you were so innocent."

Yumi rolled her eyes. "More like, _naive_."

Michiru tilted her head in confusion. "Wait, what?"

Yumi whispered fiercely. "How on earth did you land _that_ one?"

"What?" Michiru blinked at her. _Land?_ Wait a second... She thought _Shito_ was her boyfriend? She threw up her hands and waved them. "No, no it's nothing like that...!"

"Oh, so it was _his_ idea?" Masumoto winked at Michiru. "Good job!"

Yumi leaned closer. "What's it like to kiss him?

 _Kiss_ him? Who? _Shito_? Michiru's face heated. Well, actually, she _had_ kissed him, but... "Um..."

Matsumoto licked her lips and grinned eagerly. "Is he any good?"

Memories of yesterday with Shito under the tree in the graveyard flooded into Michiru's mind. Her face heated even more. "Actually, yeah."

Yumi grinned slyly. "Have you done _it_ yet?"

Michiru blinked. "It...?"

Matsumoto snorted at Yumi. "Of course she has. You saw her before."

Yumi shook her head. "It's just so hard to believe."

Michiru's brows lowered in confusion. "Guys...?"

"Yeah, I know." Matsumoto nodded with sigh. "Our little Michiru-chan, all grown up and finally losing her virginity."

Michiru clapped her hands over her mouth horrified. _How...?_ Her voice came out in a whisper. "How did you know?"

Matsumoto snorted. "Oh please... It was obvious."

Yumi sighed and fell back into her chair. "But to think you'd lose it to super-gorgeous Boy A...? Wow..."

Matsumoto dropped into her chair too. "Amazing..."

Yumi was referring, of course, to the tragic accident that happened three years ago where a car and a bus had a head-on collision with only two survivors. Since neither survivor had been adults, the news had referred to them as Boy A and Boy B. Even so, everyone at school was well aware that Boy A was Shito, and Boy B was Chika. However...

Michiru blinked. Lose _what_ to Boy A? Enlightenment suddenly struck and her mouth fell open. They thought she'd lost her virginity to _Shito_?

Unfortunately, she _couldn't_ set them straight, especially since they thought Shito was her boyfriend - thanks to Shito's comment about the kiss. If she tried to tell them that it _hadn't_ been Shito that she'd lost her virginity to, both Matsumoto and Yumi would assume that she'd cheated on Shito - even though he _wasn't_ her boyfriend! She covered her face with her hands and bowed over her desk. "Please, _please,_ don't tell anyone _any_ of this!"

Yumi grinned at Masumoto. "Oh, we won't tell a soul!"

Matsumoto grinned just as widely. "We'll take this secret to the grave."

Michiru groaned against her desktop, knowing that it was futile. By the end of the day, the rumor mill would ensure that the _entire school_ would think that that Shito was her boyfriend.

God help her when Shito heard that he'd supposedly taken her virginity too.

~ * ~ 


	9. Chapter 9

**~ Nine ~**

For the rest of that day, Michiru prayed fervently at her desk that something would happen to prevent her from meeting the guys after class. Unfortunately, nothing did.

While the four o'clock bells rang, marking the end of the school day, Michiru set her books in her student locker, slid into her black, hooded coat then went to collect her sneakers from the shoe locker. With her red leather briefcase-styled book-bag full of homework in hand, she dragged her feet to the overgrown graveyard with an air of utter doom.

Under the leafless apple tree, burgundy-eyed Shito stood watching Chika with a sly smile. Shito's arms were folded across his chest, his burgundy school blazer immaculate, as usual. "Is that jealousy I hear?"

"What? No!" Scowling, golden-eyed Chika had his hands stuffed in his pants pockets. His barely buttoned white shirt was terminally wrinkled with the tails flapping loose in the November breeze. "I'm just saying, you're moving a little...fast, ya' know?"

Shito rolled his eyes and scraped a hand through his sleek black hair. "Actually, it's a little slow, for me."

Chika waved his hand, his spiked bleached-silver hair bouncing with his movements. "And when did you even get the chance to do... _that_? I was with you almost the whole friggen night!"

Shito snorted. " _That_ is just a rumor. There's no truth in it-" Shito's gaze landed on Michiru. "-Yet."

Michiru tilted her head a little to the side. What the heck were they arguing about now?

Chika caught sight of Michiru and scowled fiercely. With a huff, he marched over to Michiru and leaned down.

Expecting a patented Chika-spaz-attack, she hunched down and closed her eyes.

Chika took a long deep sniff and abruptly straightened to glare at Shito. "You're full of shit. I don't smell nothin'."

 _What the...?_ Michiru opened one eye and looked up. "Huh?"

Shito strode over to Michiru's side. "That's because her _body_ is human, ass-wipe."

Michiru's mouth fell open. "What?"

Chika snorted and grinned at Michiru. He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder, indicating Shito. "Dumb-ass over here says you're a reaper."

Michiru shook her head over and over. "I'm not! I'm not a reaper!"

Shito's eyes narrowed. "Not _yet_ , anyway."

Michiru switched to nodding. "Yes, not yet!"

Chika flinched back, his hands going up. "Not _yet_?"

Michiru winced. _Me and my big mouth_.

Shito blew out a sigh. "I told you, shit-for-brains, it won't happen until she dies."

Michiru nodded hastily.

"Or from over-exposure to released zombies." With a soft rustle of the overgrown grass, a tall, lanky man wearing a battered gray overcoat, and an equally battered gray fedora hat stepped from the deep shadows of the apple tree. A stray beam of sunlight revealed the blond, and spectacled, Bekko, manager of Z-loan. He tucked his hands into his pockets. His faded blue gaze locked on Michiru.

Shito and Chika both stepped in front of Michiru, blocking Bekko's path.

Chika bared his teeth, flashing his blunted fangs. "What do _you_ want, ferryman?"

Bekko reached up to push his glasses a bit higher on his nose. "We're going to have to make some adjustments in how you work with Miss Kita."

Chika leaned toward Bekko aggressively. "Ha...?"

Shito's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean by _adjustments_?"

Bekko eyed Michiru. "It seems that we're going to have to put a bit of...distance between you two and Miss Kita."

Shito's eyes narrowed to slits and his lips curled, baring his own over-long teeth. " _What_...?"

Chika tilted his head to the side. "Distance...?"

Michiru stared at Bekko sadly. Apparently, Kurou was right. Bekko really _was_ trying to prevent her from becoming a reaper. Not that she wanted to be a reaper anytime soon, but she'd hoped that Bekko had at least wanted to keep her working _with_ the guys. If he was going to separate them _just_ to keep her from turning…?

Stinging with disappointment, Michiru stepped forward with her hand raised. "Mr. Bekko, you don't need to worry about that."

Bekko lifted one blond brow. "Oh?"

Michiru let her hand drop by her side and nodded. "Mr. Kurou- err... Mr. Zarame figured out how to...deal with... _that_."

Bekko smiled slyly. "Ah... So I _see_."

Michiru frowned. _What the heck is_ _ **that**_ _smile for?_

Shito turned his narrowed gaze on Michiru. " _That_?"

Michiru shrugged and looked up at Shito from under her long bangs. "Mr. Zarame figured out a way to um, cut down the...effects of the uh, dark matter."

Chika set his hands on his lanky hips. "Dark matter…?"

Shito shot a sideways glare at his partner. "Nothing you need to worry your pea-brain over."

Chika glared at Shito. "Asshole…" He turned to frown at Michiru. "Wait, _what_ effects?" He looked at Bekko. "What the fuck is she talking about?"

Bekko looked at Chika with a bored smile. "Over-exposure to released zombies is causing her to manifest her reaper soul."

Chika's head whipped around to stare at Michiru in wide-eyed horror. "You really _are_ a reaper?!"

"No!" Michiru waved her hands. "I'm not! I'm not one yet!"

Shito rolled his eyes. "I told you so, moron."

Chika rounded on Shito to grab the front of slender Chinese prince's blazer. He raised a fist. "Shut-up, you bastard...!"

Shito raised a hand to casually flick Chika in the forehead - hard.

Chika released Shito to grab his face. "Ow!"

Bekko folded his arms across his chest. "Should Miss Kita fully manifest, it will kill her."

Chika froze. He turned sharply to stare at Michiru, then screamed. "WHAT...?!"

Michiru shot a narrow-eyed glare at Bekko. He was making this out to be _way_ worse than it was. She turned back to the boys waved her hands. "That's not true! I won't actually die! I'll just be-" Her voice dropped to a murmur and she shrugged. "-a reaper."

Chika's jaw fell. He closed his mouth firmly and turned to face Bekko. "How do we stop it?"

Bekko shook his head. "You can't. She was born with a reaper's soul. It's what she is, or rather, what she will be when she dies."

Chika snarled. "Then what the hell _can_ we do?"

Bekko shrugged. "If you stop releasing zombies near Kita, it should slow the process and extend her life. Keep in mind, your weapons release dark matter every time you use them on a zombie. If Kita is anywhere near you, she will absorb what's released."

Chika tilted his head. "Huh? What's this dark matter stuff?"

Shito huffed out a breath. "It's what makes zombies rise and what reapers eat."

Bekko nodded once. "When you wound a zombie with your ectoplasmic weapons, what you're really doing is cutting away their dark matter, which floats free. If Miss Kita absorbs too much of it, her reaper soul will take over - killing her in the process."

Kita rolled her eyes. Was Bekko _trying_ to panic the guys? "Please, I'm not really going to-"

"Shit!" Chika scrubbed a hand through his bleached white hair, exposing the black roots. "Can we even do that?" He looked over at Shito. "I mean, she's _there_ when we're fighting them."

Shito scowled, his burgundy eyes narrowed. "We'll just have to put her somewhere else first, I guess."

"What?!" Michiru rushed forward, but couldn't quite gather the courage to grab onto Chika's sleeve. "I'll be fine! I told you, Mr. Zarame figured out a way to take out some of the um...excess!"

Shito's gaze narrowed. "When?"

"Huh?" Michiru blinked. "When?" Her face began to warm. She looked away. "Err... Last night."

Bekko's smile turned decidedly sly. "Oh, so it _has_ gone that far, has it?"

Michiru frowned. What did Bekko mean by _that_? Chilly suspicion began to bloom. He couldn't possibly know...!

Chika frowned in confusion. "What's gone _what_ far?"

Shito grabbed onto Michiru's shoulder, forcibly turning her to face him. "How?"

She blinked up at Shito in confusion. "How...?"

Shito's upper lip curled, exposing a long tooth. " _How_ is that little shit taking your...excess?"

Every last drop of blood in Michiru's face left. There was no way on God's green earth she could tell Shito... _that_. She jerked her shoulder out from under Shito's hand. "I-it doesn't matter h-how! It w-works, s-so you don't have to worry about me. Okay?"

Bekko blew out a sigh. "Gentlemen, you may want to step up your pace a bit. I have a feeling that Mr. Zarame may be returning to-" He looked at Michiru from the corner of his eye and smiled sourly. "- _Work_ , sometime soon."

Michiru's eyes widened in horror. Bekko _knew_ she was sharing her soul with Kurou. She winced. Of course Bekko knew. He was a ferryman, he worked for the same people the reapers did, so he _would_ know. However, that didn't mean he knew _how_ a reaper shared their soul with another reaper. Or rather, she hoped not.

Distracted, Shito and Chika turned to Bekko with a sharp gasp and yelled in unison. " _What_...?"

Shito openly snarled. "Ferryman, what in hell are you talking about?"

"Yeah!" Chika threw out his hands. "Shiba has its core and that bastard isn't anywhere around here. If he was, I would know!"

Michiru shuddered. Yes, Chika would know before anyone else if Reiichirou Shiba was anywhere nearby because the crazy psychopathic zombie-turned-reaper always targeted Chika first. Once upon a time, Shiba and Chika had been best friends, but that friendship had since gone _very_ bad.

However, with the way Shiba always focused on Chika, it looked more like a _crush,_ or infatuation gone bad - murderously bad.

Bekko turned away, the glare on his glasses hiding his eyes. "There are... _other_ ways for a reaper to gain back their core, and it seems that our Mr. Sugar Candy has found one of them." He took a step away. "Right, Miss Kita?" With a half-hearted wave, the ferryman disappeared back into the shadows.

Michiru firmly believed in kindness and giving people the benefit of the doubt, but at that moment, Michiru absolutely _hated_ Bekko. Apparently, the ferryman _did_ know what she and Kurou were doing - and he found it _amusing_. "Bastard..." The word leapt off her tongue before she could stop it.

Both Shito and Chika turned to her in utter surprise.

Chika blinked. "Michiru, was that _you_?"

Unfortunately, Shito recovered from the shock much faster. "Kita, _what_ are you giving that reaper? How is it recovering its core?"

"Wait a second..." Chika's mouth fell open. " _You're_ the reason that little shit is coming back?"

Shito rolled his eyes. "Didn't you hear what Bekko just said? Just how much bleach _do_ you use on your head? It's clearly soaking into your brain."

Shito rounded on Shito and grabbed the front of the Chinese prince's blazer. "My hair is _natural_ , you bastard!"

Shito smirked. "Sure it is - which is why your hair has _black_ roots, right?"

Chika raised his free fist. "Hey! It just does that by itself!"

Shito slapped Chika's hands from his blazer. "Sure it does. Right." He straightened his lapels and turned a narrowed burgundy glare on Michiru. "Kita, I'm waiting for an answer. What _exactly_ are you giving that reaper? How is it getting its core back?"

Chika turned to Michiru with a frown.

Michiru winced. She had to tell them something, and unfortunately she couldn't lie. Shito was way too good at spotting them. However, that didn't mean she had to tell them _everything_. She took a breath and grabbed onto her courage. "Mr. Kurou is taking out some of the reaper part of me that's getting too big. That's what's rebuilding his core."

Chika turned away. "Son of a bitch..."

Shito frowned. "Can you just...let it out yourself?"

Chika snorted. "You said 'let it out'."

Shito shot a glare at Chika and growled. "Shut up with the masturbation jokes, ass-wipe. This is serious! Or do you not care that Kita is single-handedly bringing back our worse enemy?"

Chika curled his lip, showing his overlong teeth. "Of course I care!"

"Then shut the hell up!" Shito turned back to Michiru. "Kita, do you really need that reaper's help to do this?"

Michiru nodded. "I can't do it by myself."

"Piss, piss, _piss_...!" Chika began to pace. "If you _don't_ get that out of you, _you_ turn into a reaper, and if you _do_ get it out that bastard comes back." He stopped and scraped his fingers through his already messy hair. " _Mwah_...! No matter what we do, we still get a reaper on our asses!"

Michiru shrugged and tried to lighten the mood. "Actually, if I don't get it out, you end up with _two_ reapers because once I become a reaper, I can go find Shiba, and just take Mr. Kurou's core out of him and give it back." She smiled. "Two reapers not one, see?"

Chika's face went stark white.

Shito scowled. "That _wasn't_ funny Michiru."

She blinked at the guys. "I-it wasn't?"

Chika lunged forward to grab onto both of her shoulders and shouted in her face. "You are _not_ dying! I won't allow it! You hear me? You are _not_ dying and turning into a reaper until you're a wrinkly old grandma with a dozen grand kids! You got that?"

Staring up into Chika's livid and scowling face, Michiru felt the seal she'd wrapped around her heart crack. "A grandma...? _Me...?"_ A shard fell away, releasing the terror and anger she'd been keeping at bay. "Are you _stupid_?" She slapped Chika's hands off of her. "What makes you think I'll make it to _graduation?_ " She turned to shout at both boys. "I hunt _zombies_ , for Christ's sake! Things that _eat_ people!" Her breath stuttered in her chest. "I could die _tomorrow_ , or even _tonight_ at the hands of one of those things!" She ignored the tears streaking down her cheeks and turned to glare at Shito. "You heard Mr. Bekko, he _can't_ revive me as a zombie. Once I die, I'm done!"

That she would become a reaper on her death was suddenly, painfully irrelevant.

Chika turned sharply to look at Shito with wide eyes. "She can't be raised...?"

Shito looked away from Chika and shook his head.

Chika looked back at Michiru. "I... I didn't know." He took a step closer to Michiru. "Gopher, we..."

"Shut up!" She glared with eyes that had gone watery and out of focus. "You have weapons you can use!" She pointed at Shito. "You have a gun!" She pointed at Chika. "You have a sword!" She waved her hand in a broad sweep. "I don't have _anything_! I only have these eyes!" She pointed a finger at her glasses. "That's _all_ I have! So _what_ if I can _see_ them! I can't _stop_ them! And if you get hurt, you're a zombie. You heal a million times faster than I do. If you get practically cut in half, you won't die - but I _will_!"

Her legs abruptly gave out and she dropped onto the overgrown grass on her butt. "I can see them, but can't _do_ anything at all!" She hunched over and folded her arms across her aching heart.

Chika knelt at her side. "Gopher-Michiru, we'll protect you." He turned to look over at Shito. "Won't we Shito?"

Shito moved in close and knelt at her other side. "Of course we will. You just need to point us in the right direction. We'll take care of the rest."

Chika put on a smile. "Nothing will even get close to you, we won't let it!"

Michiru let out a long sigh in an effort to calm herself. She was being selfish and upsetting the guys, but they just didn't _get it_! "I-I know you mean well, and you try your best, but..." She slid her jacket sleeve and shirt sleeve up her arm to expose a large crescent shaped scar that took up almost her entire forearm. There was a matching one on the underside. They had been made from human teeth, or rather, zombie teeth. She looked up at Chika. "Things...h-happen, you know?"

Chika's smile fell, and his golden eyes widened.

Shito winced and bit down on his bottom lip, but he didn't look away.

Chika sucked in a sharp breath and his voice came out tight. "I- I'm sorry."

"I know." Michiru tugged down her sleeves and forced her lips into a small smile. "It's okay. _I'm_ okay. Just..." She gave them a serious and level look. "I know exactly how dangerous doing this is, okay? I'm not going to stop helping you, just..." She put her smile back on her lips and patted Chika's shoulder. "You can only do as much as you can. Accidents happen, right? And, sooner or later, you're both going to be busy, and I'm-" She shrugged helplessly.

Chika's hand flew up to cover her lips. "Don't say it. _Please_." He closed his eyes. "I-I'll do better, I swear it. I'll work harder to make sure you're protected." He looked up at Shito with a determined glare. "We _both_ will. Won't we?"

Shito nodded firmly. "Yes, we will." He set his hand on Michiru's shoulder. "We'll make sure you're protected."

"After all...!" Chika abruptly smiled, though his golden eyes were a touch misty. "You're our most valuable asset!"

Shito rolled his eyes.

Her fear and anger safely sealed away once again, Michiru was able to smile just a bit wider and turned it on both guys. "Ah, it's time to go to work, yes?"

The guys exchanged a narrow-eyed glance then both of them reached down to grab her hands and pulled her up onto her feet.

Michiru dusted the grass off the back of her black coat and collected her book-bag. "Well, at least I'm useful."

Chika grinned. "Best navigational device we have!"

Shito reached out to smack the back of Chika's head, hard. "Moron."

Chika yelped and shot a glare at Shito. "What the hell was that for, bastard?" He rubbed the back of his head.

Shito tugged at his coat and straightened his tie. "Figure it out for yourself, idiot."

Chika bared his teeth in a snarl. "You need a belt to the mouth, ass-hole?"

Shito narrowed his burgundy gaze on Chika. "Do you need to die, shit-for-brains?"

With a strained smile, Michiru stepped between the two bickering boys. Not that it stopped their verbal jabs at each other. Even so, side by side, they walked out of the graveyard, heading for the heart of the city and the zombies that needed to be laid to rest.

~ * ~ 


	10. Chapter 10

**~ Ten ~**

Down town, in the heart of the city, five-o'clock traffic dragged at a crawl along the four-way with the crosswalks clotted with pedestrians. It was the perfect time and the perfect place to hunt for illegal zombies.

Standing at the curb of the crossroad where the four lanes of traffic came together, Michiru took off her glasses and focused on her eyes.

Shito and Chika flanked her on either side, keeping the crowd from bumping into her and breaking her concentration.

Michiru's awareness spilled out in a circular wave, all the way around her. Her focus whizzed outward at eye-watering speed, through people, past cars, beyond buildings... She let her focus choose its own way, it own path, allowing it to seek without guidance, allowing her reaper instincts free reign to pull her gaze to her prey.

Four blurry light gray shadows appeared in her sight, all with black rings around their throats. Her body turned like a compass and her hand came up to point. "Four of them." She could make out something broad and wavering behind them. _Is that water?_ She squinted to bring the area into focus. "Under the North Bridge by the edge of the canal; this side."

"Gotcha!" Chika took off through the pedestrians at a sprint to dive down a side street.

Shito set a hand on her shoulder. "Stay here. We'll come back as soon as we're done."

Michiru stiffened under Shito's hand and looked up at him. They were leaving her behind? "But...?"

Shito's hand tightened on her shoulder. "We promised to take better care of you." He gave her a slight smile. "Don't make us break that promise."

Michiru's heart dropped into her stomach, but she nodded. They were leaving her behind for _her_ sake. They were trying to be more mindful of her safety. She couldn't just step all over their efforts.

Shito dashed away leaving Michiru at the curb.

The crossing signal's tune abruptly changed, indicating that it was safe to walk across the street. The crowd around Michiru abruptly pushed her forward onto the street.

Her heart heavy and her eyes just a little misty, Michiru let the crowd herd her along the crosswalk, her sneakers scuffing across the painted white lines in front of the stopped traffic. With a sigh, she pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the misty lenses of her glasses.

Michiru's reaper sight abruptly spiraled outward and locked on a figure standing on the very edge of the roof of an office building only a block away. Her gaze snapped into sharp focus.

It was a man with shoulder-length sandy brown hair wearing a long black coat that flapped in the wind. His half-way buttoned, white shirt hung loose over black leather pants. Focused on something far away, he grinned, baring slightly overlong teeth. Around his throat was a solid black ring.

Michiru's heart leapt in her throat. She knew that zombie; _Shiba!_ Unfortunately, a zombie wasn't _all_ he was.

Reiichirou Shiba was also in possession of Kurou's reaper soul, which meant he also had possession of the reaper's death scythe. In addition, he had a psychopathic personality with a genius IQ, an ectoplasmic dagger that flew on thought alone, and a deadly obsession with Chika.

Shiba was Z-Loan's biggest threat.

And Michiru had no way to warn the guys that he was back. She stomped her foot in frustration. "I told them we should all get cell phones!"

Shiba's focus was clearly off in the far distance. He hadn't spotted her.

Suddenly, strong arms looped through both of Michiru's and pulled at her. "Miss Kita, the lights changed. You need to get out of the road!"

Her focus forcibly yanked back to normal human range, Michiru suddenly realized that car horns were blaring all around her, and that she was being hustled onto the sidewalk by three familiar faces.

On her left and the tallest of the three was Shuuji Tsugumi, still dressed in the burgundy-brown slacks and white shirt of their school uniform, though he wore an over-sized, bright yellow, zipped-up, hooded sweat-jacket over it. Hanging from his neck were the ever-present headphones to the MP3 player pocketed somewhere under his jacket. He smiled. "Yo, Michiru-sempai." His thick, raggedly cut, black hair spilled well past his collar.

On her right was the smallest and oddly enough, the oldest of the trio, Zen Inubashiri. He looked like a middle-school kid, but he was actually a high-school senior like her. Thick locks of his raggedly cut, wavy brown hair curved upward on either side rather like puppy ears. Something she never commented on because he had a _foul_ temper. He was also in his school uniform and sporting a deep red, zippered sweat-jacket, though he left his open. "Could you be any more of an idiot?" Zen's Chinese accent contrasted sharply against his cherubic European face.

Standing before Michiru was the third member of their set; Toko Touma. " _Mu_...! How could you be so careless, Michiru-sempai?" Her accent was also strongly Chinese, like Zen's. She was the epitome of cuteness, with knee-length strawberry blonde, curls that she kept tied up in twin tails, framing her very European, pink-cheeked, fairy-princess face. She wore a pale pink hooded coat wide open over her burgundy school uniform - the same uniform Michiru wore.

With her glasses off, Michiru could clearly see the pitch black ring around the throats of all three.

They always made her pause because something about them seemed...off, especially when she saw them in their uniforms. That the three were zombies had nothing to do with it. It just seemed...wrong to see them in _her_ school's burgundy-themed uniform.

Toko tilted her head to the side. "Michiru-sempai? You're looking at us _that way_ again."

Michiru shoved her glasses back on her face and shook her head. "My apologies, it's just that I keep picturing you guys in a _white_ uniform."

Shuuji scratched at his chin, frowning in thought. "Hmm... Our old school uniform was white?"

Toko nodded. "Maybe you saw us in them somewhere before we transferred from Hakuoh High to your school?"

Michiru tilted her head to the side. "It's possible...?" It _was_ possible, but she was pretty sure she never had.

She had first met the three in China while trying to rescue Koyomi and Shito from the Chinese crime lord that had kidnapped them. Zen had apparently been taken too, which was why Toko had also been in that Chinese palace - to rescue Zen. Shuuji had simply followed Toko, even though the Japanese boy couldn't speak a word of Chinese.

That had been a _huge_ mess. Michiru still had nightmares from it.

They had very nearly lost Koyomi because the Chinese crime lord had _bitten_ out her tongue to complete the spell to put his soul in Shito's body.

Michiru didn't even want to consider what would have happened if she hadn't made a point of rushing through the spirit world after finding Yomi, the soul that shared Koyomi's body. Michiru had burst out of the spirit passageway, right through the floor of the Chinese palace in fact, just in time to stop Koyomi from bleeding to death.

If she'd been even one minute later...

They _did_ lose Shito's mother. She turned to dust in Shito's arms. However, according to Bekko, her soul had left long before she even gave birth to Shito. All that had been animating her body was the Chinese sorcerer Toho's spells and the fragment of a memory.

Toko and Shuuji also lost their lives in the battle to save Shito, Koyomi, and Zen.

The sorcerer, Toho, died too, but not through their efforts.

When Chika cut Shito practically in half with his ectoplasmic sword, the crime lord possessing Shito's body escaped back into his original rotting, corpse-like body. Chika almost killed the guy with his sword, but changed his mind and chose to leave the bastard to die slowly, choking on his own rot.

That's when the sorcerer, Toho, stepped in and rammed his hand through the rotting man's body. The crime lord died, but Toho contracted a viciously nasty and ultimately deadly curse in the process.

That particular scene was going to haunt Michiru's dreams for a _very_ long time.

Only moments after the Chinese crime lord's death, Bekko appeared with Yuuta, insisting that if anyone wanted to quit by dying, they needed to pay up their debt first. If they couldn't pay up, then they'd have to continue their work. As an excuse to come to their rescue, it was a poor one, but no one minded.

After Yuuta patched everyone up, he brought Toko and Shuuji back to life as brand new zombies.

It seemed that Shuuji had drawn up a contract with Z-loan, 'in case of accidents' before he'd left Japan to follow Toko; a contract that included Zen. Zen was already a zombie, but an illegal one, made when he was still in middle school, which was why the small zombie looked the way he did. However, under the Z-Loan contract, Zen actually had a chance to return to life, something the little zombie hadn't thought was possible.

The real mystery though, was how Shuuji had known that the Z-Loan office even existed. Shuuji himself couldn't even explain it. "I just...knew."

Anyway, once they all got back to Japan, the three transferred to her school, Kokuba Academy, and started working for Z-Loan as part-time zombie hunters.

However, when Michiru first met the trio in China while fighting for Shito's life, she could have sworn she'd met them before. They had just seemed so... _familiar_.

"Anyway..." Zen smacked Michiru in the shoulder. "What were you doin' in the middle of the road staring off into space?"

Michiru winced from the blow. _That's going to bruise_. Zen might be small but he was still a zombie, far stronger than the average adult human. "I was looking at..." Wait, what _was_ she looking at?

The memory of seeing Shiba on that rooftop smacked her right between the eyes.

She jerked her glasses back off and focused on her death-sight. It rippled outward in a circular wave, looking for the zombie reaper. Nothing... He was gone. _Crap!_

Toko tilted her head. "Michiru sempai?"

Michiru pushed her sight wider. "Someone extremely dangerous."

Zen pushed closer, practically jumping with excitement. "A zombie?"

Shuuji snorted and unwrapped a lollypop. "Obviously. She's using her eyes." He stuck the candy in his mouth.

Michiru pushed her sight harder. She _had_ to find him! "More than just a zombie, he's a reaper too."

All three jerked back and shouted at once. " _What?!_ "

Michiru found no trace of Shiba, but she did see that Shito and Chika were on their way back. Apparently, they'd been able to take care of those four zombies easily. She slipped on her glasses and looked over at the alarmed zombies. "He's gone now."

Zen glared at Michiru from only a step away. "How the hell did a zombie become a _reaper_?"

Michiru sighed. "He's not really a reaper. He's still a zombie. He has the reaper's scythe, but I don't think he has their death-sight. He can't fly like a real reaper either." _At least, I don't_ _ **think**_ _he can...?_

Chika stepped up on the curb. "Who can't fly like a real reaper?"

Shito, only a few steps behind him scowled deeply. Clearly, he'd already guessed who Michiru was talking about.

Michiru looked up at Chika. "Shiba."

Chika's pale face went bone white. "Shiba...?" Abruptly his face went red. "You _saw_ him?" He grabbed onto her shoulders, his fingers biting into her. "When? _Where_?!"

Michiru sucked in a sharp breath and winced. "Chika, that hurts."

Chika shook her. "Where?! _Where did you see him_?!"

"Dumb-ass." Shito shoved Chika's hands off of Michiru. "You're hurting her."

Michiru rubbed at her shoulders. "He's gone now, but he was on that building." She turned and pointed to her right. "At the far end of this block."

Chika spat. "Piss!" He shook his shaggy head, his white hair flying. "If it's not one thing, it's another."

Shuuji pulled the sucker from his mouth. "So, I take it that this reaper-zombie's name is Shiba?"

Shito's burgundy eyes flare scarlet for just a moment. "Reiichirou Shiba. Tall, messy sandy blond hair, black trench-coat, carries a death scythe. Kill it on sight."

Chika turned sharply to Shiba. "He's _my_ friend! _I'm_ killing him!"

Toko tilted her head with a frown. "Was that supposed to make sense?"

Zen rolled his eyes. "Who cares? A zombie-reaper? He's probably worth a fortune!"

Shito smiled grimly. "He is."

Chika snarled. "Hey! Nobody kills him but _me_!"

Toko turned to Michiru with a sweet smile. "Since this Shiba is a zombie, my spells should work on him, right?" She lifted two fingers and made a sign. The tips of her fingers began to glow with violet light.

Chika jerked back. "Oi! Oi! Keep your fingers to yourself!"

Michiru wasn't sure how the little zombie girl was able to perform anti-zombie sorcery, the same kind the sorcerer Toho used in fact, but it didn't seem to bother her at all. Michiru nodded. "It should..."

Toko grinned. "Good!" She flicked her fingers and the violet light winked out.

Shito reached into his jacket, pulled out a handkerchief, and began wiping his hands. "Feel free to use anything you please to kill it."

Chika whirled on his partner. "Hey! Who's side are you on?"

Shito lifted an elegant brow. "Mine." He folded his handkerchief neatly and set it back inside his jacket. He turned to Michiru. "We should report this to the office." He began to stride away.

Michiru waved her hand. "Wait! We should get cell phones first!"

Shito stopped and turned back with a scowl. "What?"

Chika brushed past Michiru. "Cell phones? What do we need those for?"

Michiru took a step closer to the boys. "If we had cell phones, I could have called you and told you about Shiba when I saw him."

Chika sneered. "I am _not_ spending my hard-earned cash on something stupid-"

"Cell phones are a _great_ idea!" Toko skipped over to Michiru. "This way we can keep track of who is going after what target, so we don't all go after the same one."

Shuuji raised his hand. "I know where we can get some cheap phones with a good long distance plan."

Michiru looked up at Shuuji. "Is it far?"

Shuuji smiled and offered his arm. "Not far at all."

~ * ~ 


	11. Chapter 11

**~ Eleven ~**

Michiru walked out of the small shop with a smile and a small violet flip-phone. It even had a camera. Best of all, it hadn't cost her hardly anything at all.

Shuuji followed Michiru out of the shop fiddling with a bright blue phone. "Huh... I had no idea that they were running a sale on phones _and_ long-distance plans."

Michiru smiled up at Shuuji. "Your amazing luck strikes again, Shuuji."

Shuuji's cheeks pinked. He gave her a lop-sided smile and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I guess so."

Chika stepped out of the shop frowning at his brand-new, bright yellow phone. "God, what a waste of money! Like I'll ever use this?"

Michiru smiled up at him. "You know, you can use your phone to email and text message your little sister?"

Chika looked over at Michiru with hope blazing in his golden eyes. He _adored_ his little sister. "I can?" He shoved the phone at her. "Show me! Show me!"

Michiru leaned close to Chika and pointed at the screen. "You do it this way..."

Shito stepped out of the shop, poking at the buttons on his shiny red smart-phone. "Hm... Internet access."

Michiru looked over at Shito. "Maybe you can get Yuuta to give you access to his network, the one that tracks zombies?"

Shito blinked at her. "Good idea."

Toko stepped out of the shop with a hot pink smart-phone in her hand. "I've wanted one of these for a while now!" She poked at the large screen. "Now I can catch up on all my favorite anime!"

Last out of the shop was Zen, staring at his silver phone with deep suspicion. "How do you even work this thing?"

Toko bumped against him. "I'll show you!" She poked a finger at Zen's silver phone. "You hit this to access your directory, and this to get to your email..."

The six of them strolled over to the Z-loan office chatting away about texting, and messaging, and ringtones. Up the long rickety staircase and into the office, they bickered and quarreled about who didn't want who's numbers on their phones, but in the end, everyone's number was added to everyone else's phone.

Still chatting away, they flopped onto the two battered leather couches in the office, the scuffed wooden coffee table separating the two teams.

Michiru slid out of her black coat and smiled at the five new numbers in her directory.

Yuuta, the small Z-loan secretary abruptly came out of a back room wearing a set of black bibbed short-pants over a bright red, long-sleeved turtleneck, and a black hat sporting bunny ears. "What's everybody so excited about?"

Michiru bounced up from the end of the couch. "We just got cell phones! Do you have a cell phone, Yuuta? Can I have your number too?"

"Oh! Finally joining the modern age, Chiru-Chiru?" He whipped out an orange smart-phone. "Sure, you can have my number, oh, and here's the office number too..."

Toko bounced up from between Shuuji and Zen. "Yuuta-chan has a phone? Can I have your number too?"

Twenty minutes later, everyone had Yuuta's number, and the office's added to their phones.

Shito closed in on Yuuta. "Is there a way I can access your zombie information board through the internet?"

Yuuta looked up at Shito with a dead serious expression. "I can't give you direct access to my board, but I can give you access to a screen that will show you what's available to hunt."

Shito nodded and handed over his phone. "Good enough."

Bekko appeared behind Michiru's shoulder. "Oh, so _that's_ what all the excitement is about."

Michiru gasped in shock, but didn't scream - this time. "Uh, yes! We got cell phones so we can stay in contact." Suddenly, the reason _why_ she'd wanted a cell phone in the first place occurred to her. She turned to look up at Bekko. "I saw Shiba today, but he disappeared only a minute or two later."

Bekko sighed. "Ah..."

Yuuta also sighed. "If Shiba's in the area, that could explain the sudden increase in low-level; mindless zombies over this past month."

Chika tilted his head. "But we only just saw Shiba _today_? How do we know it's him?"

"We don't." Bekko looked over his shoulder at Chika. "But with a reaper's core, he can step in to and out of the mortal plane almost instantaneously, so it _is_ possible."

Yuuta nodded. "It takes a full five minutes for our system to register a zombie as active in our territory."

Shuuji frowned. "Hmm... So, this Shiba has a whole five-minute window to kill without being detected."

Yuuta stepped before the six hunters. "Here's the weird part. More than half of the low-level zombies rising are being destroyed only minutes later."

Chika frowned. "So he's making them then destroying them?"

Bekko shrugged. "If he's the _only_ zombie making them, yes. However..." He nodded to Yuuta.

Yuuta's smile melted into a grim line. "A brand new high-level zombie showed up on our grid about two hours ago."

Shito frowned at Bekko. "Don't you ferrymen know when one of _those_ is going to rise?"

Bekko lifted his chin. "If they're on the list, yes. This one apparently, wasn't."

Michiru shivered. Bekko meant the death list; the list of those scheduled to die by accident, disease, or old age. "So they were...murdered."

Bekko shrugged. "Murder victims do appear on the list if their death is planned; premeditated. If the victim is random, they don't."

Sitting on the couch, Toko tugged at one of her strawberry blonde pony-tails. "But a zombie of that type, one with its mind still intact, normally rises by their own will; unfinished business and stuff. Right?"

"To become a zombie with self-awareness takes strong emotions." Bekko used his middle finger to push his glasses higher up on his nose. "Hope, rage, hate, and even love."

Michiru blinked. "Love...?"

"Yes, indeed." Bekko smiled sourly. "Love makes more zombies than any other emotion. However..." He turned away. "Love also has a tendency to give such zombies a powerful desire to eat their beloved."

Michiru's mouth fell open. "Eat...?!"

"Oh yes." Bekko's gaze focused on Chika. He smiled."What better way is there for a flesh-eating monster to keep their loved one close forever than to devour them?"

Chika scowled. "Why're you looking at _me_? I don't have anyone I want to eat."

Bekko's smile twisted into a smirk. "Perhaps not, but someone definitely wants to eat _you_ , no?"

Chika's head tilted to the side. "Haa?"

Shito's gaze narrowed on Bekko and he bared his overlong teeth.

Zen scowled. "A sorcerer can make a self-aware zombie too."

Michiru winced. A sorcerer had made Zen into a zombie.

Chika frowned. "So, this new guy might be behind all these new low-level zombies, not Shiba?"

Shito's burgundy gaze narrowed. "Or, Shiba's behind all of it, including this brand new zombie. He's made a high-level zombie before; the rat geek."

Chika shook his head. "Ah, that one wasn't Shiba's fault. That one rose all on his own."

Michiru frowned. Shito was referring to the rat-guy that showed up when they first ran into Shiba. Back then, Shiba had been killing people and posting the pictures on a member's only website under the name Butterfly. The rat-guy had copied him in an attempt to usurp Shiba's fame, so to speak.

Michiru _still_ had the occasional nightmare about rats.

Toko frowned. "Could this new zombie have come from some other territory?"

Yuuta looked over at the delicate strawberry-blonde sorceress. "I've contacted several of the other ferrymen to see if it's from someone else's territory. So far, no one has claimed it as theirs."

Shuuji frowned deeply. "If this high-level zombie _didn't_ wander in from another territory, and really is only two hours old, like the boards say they are..."

Toko stood up from the couch. "Then they _can't_ be behind all those low-level zombies."

Yuuta shrugged. "We won't know for sure until we find it."

Shuuji looked over at Bekko. "Then this is a capture mission?"

Bekko shrugged and turned away. "If it hasn't killed yet, it might prove useful."

Michiru rolled her eyes. Bekko meant that this new zombie might prove _profitable_ under a Z-Loan contract. _Geeze_... _How greedy can he get?_

Zen scowled. "And if it _is_ killing?"

Bekko turned to Zen with a smile. "Release it."

Michiru flinched. In other words; _destroy it_. She moved closer to Bekko. "If they rose because they were murdered, what about finding out who killed them?"

Bekko waved his hand. "Not our job. That's for the police to figure out." He turned to face her. "Unless they _were_ killed by a zombie."

Michiru couldn't help but feel more than a little disappointed in Bekko.

Zen abruptly stood up from the couch. "Yuuta, do you have any idea where this new zombie is?"

Yuuta shook his head. "I've got it tracked to a one-mile block in our territory, but that's as close as the system can track it."

Chika rolled his eyes a groaned. "We gotta search a whole one-mile block to find it?"

Zen scowled. "What a useless system!"

Yuuta folded his arms across his small chest and pouted. "The system is not like GPS with hundreds of satellites to rely on. It only has one databank, the Akashic Record, to cover the whole world."

Toko jumped off the couch and grabbed onto Zen's arm. "Don't worry about finding it, Zen-sempai, that's why you have me and Michiru sempai!"

Chika shoved his way before the two. "Oi! The gopher is on _our_ team!"

Michiru sighed and stared out the window at the office directly across the street. It was empty, unoccupied. It always had been. However, for some reason, she kept expecting to see lights over there, and a big white sign rather like Z-Loan's...

"Miss Kita?" The voice was soft but right at her ear.

Michiru jumped and turned. "Huh?"

On her immediate right Bekko stood rather uncomfortably close. "What are you looking at?"

Michiru spared a glance at the empty office then gave Bekko a head shake and a tight smile. "Nothing. It's nothing."

Bekko looked across the street at the empty office. "You know, if something's bothering you, you can tell me?"

Michiru's eyes widened. _Tell Bekko...?_ He was the _last_ person she would trust with her...odd feelings. Just for a moment, a spat of anger took over her tongue. "Why didn't you tell me I had a reaper's soul, that I'd be a reaper after I die?"

Bekko's gaze dropped and his pale cheeks turned a touch pink. "I didn't want to...worry you."

It was almost believable, and truthfully, she _wanted_ to believe him. After all, he did watch over them, in an off-hand and somewhat careless fashion. However, she'd seen for herself just how secretive, if not downright misleading the ferryman could be. A certain hot-spring vacation trip that turned out to be a camp-out in an abandoned inn with a werewolf problem came to mind right away.

Bekko clearly had his own agenda, and he wasn't sharing.

Michiru reigned back on her temper and smiled, but a small bit of spite still wormed its way out. "I don't want to worry you either." She then turned away from Bekko and walked back to the couches and the others. The debate on who was going to hunt down the new zombie still raged between the two teams. Even so, she still took a small peek back from the corner of her eye.

Bekko had shifted to lean against the windowsill, but his gaze was still on Michiru, and a slight smile curved his lips.

Yuuta lifted his hand. "Okay, report time! Who released what zombies where?"

Shito and Chika rushed over to Yuuta's left while Toko and Zen crowded Yuuta's right.

Shuuji sighed and spread his arms out across the back of the couch opposite the one Michiru sat on. "So excitable."

Michiru could only smile wearily and nod.

~ ZL ~

Full night had fallen when the two teams of zombie-hunters finally left the Z-Loan office, but the streets were far from dark. Neon signs and streetlamps lit the sidewalks to near daylight brightness. The six teenagers stopped at the crossroads before going their separate ways. Unlike Michiru, Shito, and Chika, who lived in the dorm, Shuuji, Toko, and Zen lived in an apartment on the other side of town.

Michiru turned to Shuuji. "You go to the same school we do. Why haven't you guys moved into the Black Dorm with us, and the rest of the Z-Loan students?" The rest being Aso and Koyomi.

Shuuji shrugged. "Why move to that ancient dump when I already have a three-bedroom apartment?"

Toko threw up her hands and pirouetted. "We all have our own private bathrooms!"

Zen grinned viciously. "And maid service to clean up for us and do laundry once a week."

Shito snarled and pointed at Shuuji. "Why does that shitty mongrel get to have maid service while _I_ have to live in squalor?!"

Shuuji grinned. "'Cuz you're broke, and I'm not?"

Shito swung a fist at Shuuji aiming at his mouth. "Die!"

"Whoa!" Chika grabbed Shito around the waist, keeping Shito's fist from reaching Shuuji's face.

"Oh? Sensitive subject, little _prince_?" Shuuji crunched his lollypop.

Shito promptly burst a gasket. Teeth bared and fists wind-milling, he dragged Chika inch by inch toward Shuuji. "Die! Die! Die…!"

Shuuji just smiled and leaned back out of range with one hand tucked casually in his pants pocket.

Howling with laughter, Zen leaned over clutching his stomach.

Michiru heaved a sigh. While she wasn't an exiled prince used to having people wait on her hand and foot like Shito, she did understand some of Shito's bitterness. She was broke too. When she reached twenty-one, she'd have access to the trust fund her parents had left her and be able to move somewhere decent, but that was still three years away.

Hopefully, she'd live long enough to actually collect it.

Toko leaned against Michiru's shoulder and spoke softly. "Shuuji's crazy luck is how he can afford such an apartment. The scary part is that Shuuji doesn't even have to try! If he buys a lottery ticket, he wins, just like that."

Michiru blinked. "Wow… Wish I had that kind of luck." That kind of money luck would fix _so many_ problems… "So how did you and Zen end up staying with Shuuji?"

Toko tilted her head and pressed a finger to the corner of her mouth. "Well, when Zen and I returned to Japan, Shuuji just invited us to stay with him. We had no place else to go, so we took him up on it."

Michiru frowned at Toko. "What about Shuuji's parents?"

Toko shrugged. "Shuuji lived by himself. If he has parents, he won't talk about them. He changes the subject."

Michiru blinked. This was clearly a sensitive topic. It was probably time she changed the subject too. She smiled. "You're lucky to have such a good friend. How did you meet him?"

Toko snuck a look toward Shuuji. "Honestly? We ran into him at school - and I mean that literally." She turned to smile at Michiru. "Me and Zen were running to class, turned a corner, and crashed right into him. After that, he just...latched on to us. No matter where we went; at lunch and after school, he followed us. In fact, it was because he was following us that he got attacked."

Michiru's mouth fell open. "Shuuji was attacked by a zombie?"

Toko nodded. "Yeah. Funny thing is, he didn't even _try_ to save himself. He just smiled and said _we'd_ save him." She made a sour face. "Which we did." She sighed. "That's how he found out about Zen being a zombie, and my sorcery. After that, we _really_ couldn't get rid of him."

Michiru smiled. "He must really care about you guys. I mean, he _did_ follow you all the way to China, and even took out a life-loan for you guys."

She chuckled. "Yes, he did." She looked over at Shuuji. "I found out later that before me and Zen, Shuuji didn't have any friends. He didn't talk to _anyone_ at school." She turned back to Michiru with a slight frown. "It's like he was _waiting_ for us to show up."

Michiru frowned at the squabbling boys. "He seems pretty friendly now?" She coughed. "So to speak."

Toko nodded. "Yeah, he took to you guys right away." She winked at Michiru. "So to speak."

Shuuji waved. "Guys, we better hurry or Cook will get upset that we let his food get cold."

Shito choked in Chika's hold. "You have your own _cook_?!"

Shuuji smiled. "A chef, actually. Oh, and we're having lasagna tonight."

Zen threw up his hands. "I _love_ Italian!" He waved toward Michiru and Toko. "Yo, let's go already!"

Toko grinned at Michiru. "Gotta go!" She took off after Shuuji and Zen.

Michiru waved after her. "See you tomorrow!"

Shito screamed out something in Chinese.

Shuuji waved a hand over his head. "Yeah, I love you too."

Chika burst into laughter. "Shito, you know he doesn't understand a word of Chinese, right?"

Shito turned on Chika. "Oi! Who's side are you on, anyway?"

Chika winked. "Mine!" He burst out in cackling laughter. "God, I've been dying to say that!"

"Then die now!" Shito launched a fist at Chika. "Ass-wipe!"

In a matter of seconds, both boys were trading fists, kicks, and insults almost faster than the eye could follow.

Michiru heaved a sigh and walked toward the dorm, leaving Chika and Shito to squabble on the street-corner by themselves.

~ * ~


	12. Chapter 12

**~ Twelve ~**

Her breath billowing out in white clouds, Michiru pulled up the hood of her black coat and tucked her hands deep in her pockets. Winter was definitely on its way. As she walked further from town and deeper into the high-walled neighborhoods, the road became darker and less travelled by cars or pedestrians. Only a few blocks later, the only cars left on the streets were parked, and the sidewalks were utterly deserted. Sounds became muffled and distant, except for the crunch of dry leaves under her sneakers.

With the neighborhood's high walls it became difficult to see who or _what_ might be waiting in the intersections. She moved closer to the walls, avoiding the parked cars, and the dark, empty spaces between them. Ten steps away from the next crossroad, the hairs on the back of her neck began to lift.

All too used to being in extreme danger, Michiru knew better than to ignore her own instincts. _Something_ was nearby. She stopped cold and listened, her breath softening to barely a whisper. The cold killed her sense of smell, but her hearing was quite sharp.

Leaves crunched under a single soft footfall.

Michiru turned sharply to the right.

On the sidewalk of the road on her right, a shadow moved. Someone tall in a long black coat stepped under the streetlamp. The coat flapped open to reveal a partially unbuttoned white shirt hanging loose over black leather pants. He lifted his head. Longish, sandy-blond, wavy hair framed a smiling, handsome face with golden-brown eyes. "Hello Michiru-chan."

Michiru stiffened; every nerve in her body at complete and utter attention. _Shiba..._ The instinct to run tensed in her legs, but the promise to recover Kurou's core held her where she stood. If she could get close enough, she could _take_ it; pull it right out of him.

If he didn't kill her first.

Even so, could she pass up this chance?

The smiling reaper-zombie casually leaned back against the street light. "I was wondering if you could answer a question for me?"

"Hello, Shiba." Michiru slid her hands out of her pockets and took a step toward him.

In an instant, Shiba's smile was gone and his eyes narrowed. He straightened sharply and a hand whipped out of his pocket to point a long gleaming hunting knife at her. "That's close enough."

Michiru froze, blinking at him. "What...?"

Shiba smiled again, but it was all teeth, his gaze remained narrowed. "If you think I don't know that you can pull the soul out of someone's body, you're mistaken."

She frowned. _How did he know...?_ She'd only done it twice and he hadn't been there either time.

Shiba chuckled dryly. "Word gets around on the spirit plane, and right now, you are a _very_ hot topic, little lady." He tilted his head to one side. "Care to know what they're saying?"

Michiru rolled her eyes. As if she could believe anything he said? Shiba was far too practiced a liar.

Shiba waved the knife casually. "Oh, so you don't believe me?" His smile curled sharply. "Get this... Has anyone told you _why_ you have those eyes, _why_ you see what you can see, or how it is that you can pull souls out of bodies?"

Michiru blew out a breath. _Was that all?_ She smiled. "Yes."

Shiba's brows lifted and his smile faded just a little. "Oh, so you _do_ know." He looked at the knife in his hand as though surprised to see it. "Well, good." With a slight chuckle he waved the knife. It dissolved into silvery smoke. "Anyway... I've been having a bit of...difficulty lately, and I was wondering if you could shed some light on it?"

Michiru tilted her head slightly. Yes, Shiba was a bad-guy and totally untrustworthy, not to mention a crazed psychopathic killer, but at the moment he was being rather polite and friendly, like when she'd first met him. Also, he was clearly bothered by something. She couldn't help but respond to that. "What's the problem?"

Shiba sniffed and frowned. He looked sharply up the street. "Err, before we get to that, could you, take off your glasses?"

Michiru frowned. "My...glasses?"

Shiba's gaze abruptly shifted to look in the other direction, his gaze narrowing. "Yes, take off your glasses, and tell me how many we're dealing with?"

Michiru's frown deepened. _But the only thing I can really see with my glasses off are...?_

Zombies.

Alarm spilled through her. She jerked off her glasses and let her _shinigami_ sense spill outward in a circular wave. Shiba practically glowed in her sight, but all of a sudden, other pale gray figures with black rings around their throats began to shine further out in her sight, _all the way around_ _her_. "Whoa!" She began to count...

Shiba blew out a heavy sigh and extended his hand. A long black-handled scythe shimmered into being. "How many, Michiru-chan?"

Michiru voice was dead and emotionless, but that was far from what she was feeling. "Twenty-four." A frown pulled at her mouth. "Where did they all come from?"

"I have my guesses..." Shiba set his scythe against his shoulder and moved to the middle of the street. "Where are they?"

Michiru focused her gaze to see their locations. "One to two blocks away and all the way around us in a ring. We're surrounded."

Shiba bit down on his bottom lip. "How fast are they moving?"

Michiru frowned in concentration. "At a walk." At one to two blocks away, it was obvious that none of the zombies had seen them, so moving at a walk was understandable. Once they were spotted, the shambling dead would likely pick up their pace. Zombies could move damned fast when they spotted live _food_.

However, this posed the question: if the zombies didn't know they were there, which their slow pace suggested, _how_ had the zombies surrounded them, and _where_ had so many come from?

Shiba set his free hand on his hip and snorted. "You'd think they'd have figured out by now that sending zombies after me is a stupid idea."

Michiru turned to stare at Shiba. "They're after _you_?" However, she was distracted by the umber yellow glow of the stolen reaper core blazing in his belly. She frowned. That wasn't right. Mr. Kurou's core was normally violet, like his eye.

The reaper core had changed color.

"Well!" Shiba clapped his hands sharply. "I guess I better get to destroying them. Which, by the way, will allow me the pleasure of rescuing you, Michiru-chan." Shiba bowed extravagantly and winked. "And then you'll owe me so you'll _have_ to answer my questions, right?" He abruptly straightened and grinned broadly. "Be right back!" He took a step to the left and disappeared into thin air.

Michiru blinked at the place Shiba had disappeared.

" _With a reaper's core, he can step in to and out of the mortal plane almost instantaneously_..."

Michiru blew out a breath. "So _that's_ what Bekko meant." She could walk on the spirit plane too, but not the way Shiba could. She couldn't just... _do_ it. She needed a corridor opened for her by another spirit.

Michiru's _shinigami_ sight abruptly pulled her gaze to a zombie roughly a block away.

Shiba abruptly stepped out of thin air behind the slow moving zombie and used his scythe to cut it in half. Blood sprayed in a wide arc, some of it spattering onto Shiba's black coat. For a brief instant, a dark cloud escaped the zombie's body to surround Shiba. That cloud abruptly soaked into Shiba, as though being sucked into him.

Michiru frowned. _What was_ _ **that**_ _?_ She'd never seen anything like it before.

The zombie fell over and a collection of small gold lights floated upward from the fallen corpse.

Michiru blinked. _Oh, the zombie's soul..._

Shiba ignored the lights, took one step away and disappeared.

Michiru frowned at the fallen zombie. Shiba hadn't bothered to send the soul on. He just let it drift away. Annoyance sparked around her heart. Shiba wasn't doing it right! He was only doing half the job!

Abruptly something else caught her attention. A _gold_ soul? All the souls she'd seen were _blue_ not gold.

All of a sudden, the zombie on the ground seemed to collapse into itself. A breeze came out of nowhere and a swirl of what could only be ash floated up, erasing the zombie completely.

Michiru's eyes widened. _Did that zombie just..._ _ **disintegrate**_ _?_ Zombies were human bodies, they _didn't_ do that!

Her _shinigami_ sight abruptly pulled her focus to another zombie, this one two blocks away.

Once again, Shiba stepped out of thin air and sliced the zombie in half. Another dark cloud appeared and soaked into Shiba.

The corpse fell to the ground and little gold lights, the zombie's soul, drifted free.

Shiba stepped away and disappeared.

The zombie disintegrated into ash and was blown away by a stray breeze, disappearing entirely from the pavement.

Every hair on Michiru's body rose. Something was wrong here - very, _very_ wrong. Zombies did _not_ disintegrate like that, and souls; human and animal, were _blue_ , not gold.

Her sight abruptly snapped to another zombie. This time she focused hard on the zombie in an effort to get a nice clear visual of it. Was there something different about this zombie compared to the ones she normally saw?

It looked like your average male office worker in a rumpled business suit and overcoat. It even carried a briefcase. However, the shambling, shuffling walk and the way its arms hung down in that boneless fashion clearly marked it as being a zombie. What really stood out though, was that it didn't appear to have any color to it at all. Its face was very white, like paper, and portions of it were odd shades of gray, but there was no blue, brown, or red to it at all. The ring around its neck was pitch-black as per usual, but...

But the ring _wasn't_ a solid black band. It _was_ black, very black, but it was wavy, like... Like _writing_. Michiru pushed her sight hard to see it clearly, but it just wouldn't come into sharp enough focus. "Damn..."

Abruptly, Shiba appeared behind the office worker zombie. He sliced the odd zombie clean in half with his scythe, absorbed the shadowy cloud then stepped away and disappeared. Again, gold lights floated up from the zombie, and again, the body disintegrated into ash.

Michiru shook her head to pull her sight back into human range. Something was definitely off about those zombies. She needed a better look, a _closer_ look. She needed to see what that wavy line around their throats was. _Was_ it writing, or was it just the sign of a different type of zombie? And why were their souls _gold_?

Frowning, Michiru turned her gaze to the closest of these odd zombies. According to her sight, it was only a single street away. She turned and jogged down the side street toward it. She needed to get to that zombie before Shiba did.

Michiru spotted the zombie shuffling along the sidewalk. She crossed the street and ran toward it. Less than ten feet away, her instinct for self preservation finally kicked in. She stopped cold. _What am I_ _ **doing**_ _?!_ She had no way to stop it, or even defend herself against an attack!

For its part, the zombie directly in front of her continued along at a shambling walk.

Michiru frowned. _What the...?_ Under normal circumstances, a zombie this close would lift its arms and charge straight for her. Curious, she moved off the sidewalk and walked slowly toward it at an angle.

The zombie continued its slow walk along the sidewalk, no change in direction or speed. It was as though it didn't see her.

Michiru's death sight abruptly snapped on and the ring around its neck suddenly came into sharp and crystal clear focus. It _was_ writing, in some sort of scrawling brushwork. However, she couldn't read a word of it. Even stranger, the whole zombie appeared to be bone white and encrusted with extremely tiny writing.

She stepped closer to peer at the zombie's coat. The entire surface of it from collar to hem was covered with the word: _jacket_. A quick glance at the zombie's briefcase revealed that the whole thing was covered in the word: _briefcase_. A look at the zombie's face revealed even more writing; _cheek, nose, lips, eyes, hair, scalp..._

Michiru's mouth fell open in sheer shock. This wasn't a zombie at all. It just _looked_ like one. In fact, it looked like it was made entirely out of... _papier-mâché_ , except that the thing was _moving_.

Actually, it was moving past her.

Michiru trotted to catch back up to it and shoved her glasses back on to regain her human sight.

The zombie abruptly looked completely normal and in full color. Well, as normal as a walking corpse could possibly look. The face was pasty blue-gray with the residual red and green bruising around its eyes, plus blue lips that all non-contracted zombies had. The suit it wore was blue-gray pin-stripe with a black tie, and the briefcase looked like ordinary brown leather with brass fittings. No sign of any writing what so ever.

Walking along side it, Michiru jerked her glasses back off, allowing her death sight to kick back on.

The zombie turned back into a paper construct covered in writing.

"Michiru!" The masculine shout came from across the street.

Michiru shoved her glasses back on and turned to look.

A very wide-eyed Shiba stood across the street from her, his scythe raised defensively. "What in hell are you _doing_?"

The zombie abruptly moaned and raised its arms, the turned to face Shiba, and incidentally Michiru. It started shambling toward them.

Shiba raised his scythe. "Michiru! Get out of the way!"

Michiru skipped out of the zombie's path.

The zombie ignored her completely to continue trotting in Shiba's direction.

Michiru pulled her glasses off and trotted alongside it, peering at all the different writing; _pants, pin-stripes, black tie, brown shoes..._

Shiba's mouth fell open. "Michiru?! Are you out of your mind? Get out of the way!"

Michiru waved her hand. "I'm fine. It's not real."

"What?!"

"It's not real." Michiru tilted her head to see at a better angle. "It's made of paper."

Shiba frowned. "It looks real enough to me." He abruptly sighed and briskly stepped toward her.

The zombie continued to trot toward Shiba with its arms raised. A hollow moan left its wide open mouth.

Dodging the zombie's rather slow attempt at a grab, Shiba grabbed Michiru by the upper arm and jerked her sideways, away from the zombie.

Startled, Michiru yelped. "Hey!"

Shiba raised his scythe one-handed and slashed the zombie clean in half.

Michiru pouted. "Shiba! I was looking at that!"

"Not anymore." Shiba jerked Michiru a sharp step to the side. The world abruptly shifted into solid gray mist.

~ * ~


	13. Chapter 13

**~ Thirteen ~**

Michiru blinked at the change in scenery. It was all a gray misty...emptiness. The building were gone. The road was gone. The sounds were gone. Even the cold was gone. The sky was nothing but roiling gray clouds. Mist covered the unseen ground to curl about their ankles.

They were on the spirit plane.

Scythe still in hand, and scowling ferociously, Shiba dragged her along by the arm through the misty emptiness for about ten steps then stopped to glare down at her. "Has anyone told you that you're a hazard to yourself?"

Michiru blinked up at the psychopathic zombie that had tried to kill her more than once, and was at that moment, apparently, attempting to save her. "Um, no?"

Shiba let her go to wipe his hand down his face and groan. He abruptly set his free hand on his hip. "Now, what did you mean by it's not real?"

Michiru shrugged. "That zombie _wasn't_ real. It was made of paper."

"Paper...?" Shiba's brows snapped together and his head tilted. "It looked perfectly real to me."

Michiru folded her arms across her stomach. "It looks real to me too with my normal sight." She waved her glasses. "But with my death sight its nothing but paper covered in words." She lowered her glasses. "In fact, I think they _all_ were. Didn't you notice that the souls leaving them were gold?"

"Gold...?" Shiba's frown deepened. "Souls look like little white lights to me. You see them in color?"

Michiru nodded. "Souls are normally blue. All the souls from this set of zombies were gold, but what really caught my attention were the rings."

Shiba set his free hand on his hip. " _Rings_?"

Michiru pointed to her neck. "Their black rings weren't solid, they were writing."

"Writing...?" Shiba's brows lifted. "What did it say?"

Michiru shook her head. "I couldn't read it. It was done in some kind of thick, painted cursive. But the whole body was covered in writing too. The briefcase says briefcase, and the coat says jacket." She set her hand on her hip. "But here's the weird part..."

Shiba's brows lifted. "What could possibly be weirder than a _paper_ zombie?"

Michiru held his gaze. "Didn't you notice? It didn't see me."

"Wait a second..." Shiba shook his head and waved his hand at ear level, as though trying to sort through his thoughts. "What do you mean, it didn't see you?"

Michiru shrugged. "It's like I'm invisible to it." Her brow lifted. "But it saw _you_."

Shiba frowned, then abruptly grabbed Michiru by the arm and started pulling her after him. " _This_ I have to see." He waved his scythe. There was a distinct ripping sound, and the gray world literally tore, like paper. Through the tear came an icy breeze. Shiba reached up with his scythe to tear it further open. The street's intersection appeared on the other side. Gripping Michiru by the arm, Shiba stepped through the tear towing her after him.

Michiru stepped out of the spirit world and into the same chilly intersection she'd just left, with the addition of three new zombies.

All three zombies raised their arms and changed direction to shuffle toward them.

Leaving Michiru behind, Shiba stalked toward the center of the intersection. "So what you're saying, as that these things are targeting _only_ me?"

"See for yourself." Michiru walked toward the closest zombie, but was careful to stay out of its direct path.

The zombies completely ignored her to continue to shamble toward Shiba.

Shiba abruptly laughed and extended his scythe. "Well, shit... They _are_ targeting me!"

Without her glasses on, Michiru eyed the zombie passing by her while taking care to stay out of its direct path. She then eyed the other two who were shambling toward the center of the intersection from the other two roads. All three were made of paper covered in words. "Oh, and there's one other thing, Shiba..."

Shiba raised his scythe. "What?" He swung.

The two paper zombies closest to Shiba abruptly split neatly in half, the pieces dropping to the ground. A cloud of shimmery darkness erupted from the fallen zombies and raced for Shiba. The clouds disappeared on contact. Gold lights began to drift upward from the bodies.

Michiru set her hands on her hips. "Real zombies do _not_ dissolve into ash."

Shiba froze to stare at Michiru. "What?"

The two fallen zombies abruptly dissolved into gray ash that was carried off by the breeze.

Shiba's eyes widened. "Okay, I believe you now. Those were _not_ zombies." He eyed the third zombie approaching him and sliced it in half too.

The zombie fell on the road in two pieces.

Michiru moved closer to get a better look at the cloud of darkness drifting from the fallen pieces.

The cloud abruptly split with a large portion of it moving quickly toward Shiba, and the rest flying toward Michiru.

Alarmed, Michiru jerked back. "Yikes!" The cloud was on her too fast to avoid. It disappeared on contact with her body. Suddenly, Michiru felt giddy, as though she was mildly drunk.

Shiba frowned. "Michiru-chan, what is it?"

Michiru's brain cleared and in that moment she knew exactly how those paper contracts had been able to move - the exact same way that corpses were able to rise. "Dark matter."

Shiba frowned. "Dark matter? What's that?"

The paper zombie released the gold lights of its soul and began to disintegrate into ash.

Michiru looked over at Shiba. "Dark matter is what makes zombies rise. It's also what makes the paper zombies move." She pointed at the bright yellow soul burning in Shiba's stomach that her uncovered eyes had no difficulty seeing. "Dark matter is what reapers eat. Or rather their core's do."

Shiba smiled, but it was bitter. "Yes, yes, that's nice. However, I'm far more interested in _who_ made these things, and _why_ they're sending them after me."

Michiru nibbled on her bottom lip. How to say this politely? "Maybe because you're not exactly a _nice_ guy?"

Shiba blinked. "Not exactly..." He burst out in laughter. "Okay, okay! I'll give you that!" He smiled. "You're right. I am not exactly a _nice_ guy." He turned away and scrubbed at the back of his head. "Okay, so _paper_ zombies...?" He froze then snapped his fingers. "I got it!"

Michiru tilted her head. "Got what?"

Shiba turned to face Michiru with a fierce grin. "These zombies were _shikigami_ ; paper spirits."

Michiru frowned. "Paper spirits?"

Shiba nodded. " _Shikigami_ are spells or spirits attached to paper dolls. They're used by _onmyoji_ \- Japanese Yin-Yang sorcerers." He turned away and rubbed at his jaw. "Huh... I didn't think there were any of those left after World War Two."

Michiru rubbed her eyes and groaned "Not _another_ sorcerer...!" The last sorcerer she'd run across, Toho, had very nearly gotten Chika possessed, Shito destroyed, and Koyomi killed. This was in addition to forcing Shito to play nasty little sadistic games for _decades_.

From the vicinity of Michiru's pocket, a little tune played.

Startled, Michiru jumped. "What the...? Oh!" It was her brand new phone. She shoved her hand in her pocket, fumbled the little violet phone out, and flipped it open. The screen lit up. Michiru peered at the lighted screen. Chika was calling her. Politely, she turned away from Shiba, poked the little green button to receive the call, then pressed it to her ear. "Yes?"

"Gopher!" Chika's voice was loud.

Michiru flinched. "Yes?"

"Where the hell are you?"

Michiru looked about the street. "About three blocks from the dorm."

"Well, hurry your ass up! You're missing supper!"

Michiru smiled. "I'm on my way."

"Good!" There was a click.

Michiru pulled the phone back to look at it. The call had disconnected. She closed it and turned to face Shiba.

He towered over her from less than a foot away with a wide grin on his face.

Michiru jumped back. "Eep!" She took a deep breath. "You startled me."

Shiba waved his free hand toward her. "So you have a cell phone now?"

Still amazed by her new purchase, Michiru raised her violet flip-phone and nodded happily. "Just got it today. Do you have a cell phone, Shiba?"

"As a matter of fact..." Shiba whipped a bright red smart-phone from his pocket. "I do!" He tilted it to show Michiru the flat screen. "Did you know that if you do this-" He hit a couple buttons. "You can use the laser function to broadcast your contact information to another phone? This way you don't have to enter it all in by hand."

"Oh!" Fascinated, Michiru leaned closer while poking buttons on her phone. "I had no idea you could do that!"

"You do it like this..." Shiba reached over to poke a few buttons on Michiru's phone. He straightened. "There! Now I have your contact information, and you have mine." He winked.

Michiru smiled. "Wow, thanks Shiba!"

Shiba grinned broadly. "You're welcome, Michiru-chan." He stepped back. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to see if I can figure out who is sending paper zombies after me." He slashed to the side with his scythe. With a ripping sound, reality tore, revealing the misty spirit world on the other side. "Night, Michiru-chan!" With a jaunty wave, Shiba stepped to the side and disappeared into the tear. The rip closed behind him.

Michiru set her glasses back on her nose and started walking toward the Black Dorm with a smile. She opened her phone to look at her contacts list. There it was; Shiba's phone number complete with grinning photograph. She had one more contact in her list.

And _he_ had _hers_.

Michiru abruptly tripped on nothing in particular. Shiba, the psychopathic zombie-reaper that had tried to kill her more than once, had her _phone number_ , which meant he could call her _at any time_.

She stopped in the middle of the road to smack her own forehead. "I'm an idiot!" She dropped her hand and blew out a sigh. Hopefully, she could keep it a secret for a little while.

At least, until Shiba decided to taunt someone about it; that someone most likely being Chika. The immediate cascade effect of Shito finding out only seconds later, then everyone else on down the Z-Loan line was _not_ something she was looking forward to.

Michiru groaned. "They're going to kill me."

But that was a worry for later. She pulled up her black hood and trotted for the dorm. Tonight, she had to come up with a way to break the news that someone was making paper zombies without exposing that she'd also been 'fraternizing with the enemy.'

~ ZL ~

Michiru pushed open the front door to the Black Dorm and stepped into the vague warmth of the front hall. The old building didn't have a furnace, which made the hallways in winter downright frosty. Being as cold as it was, she'd have to start the fire in her room's fireplace immediately if she planned to change into her pajamas without freezing. She'd probably also have to set her alarm clock for a midnight wake-up to put more wood on to keep the fire going until morning. She had no interest in catching a nasty cold from the chill in her own bedroom - again.

She closed the front door as quietly as she could, but was well aware that it was probably useless. Chika and Shito in particular, had supernaturally good hearing. She padded up the groaning stairs that went up along the right wall of the main hall, heading for the second floor where the lounge, dining room, and kitchen were. Hopefully, she could get to her room on the third floor before having to deal with Chika and Shito.

If she was lucky, Kurou would be there and she could ask him about the paper zombies. Being as old as he was, it was a good bet that he'd run into such things before.

At the top of the stairs, she turned left and crossed the open landing overlooked by a massive stained-glass window to the double doors of the second floor hall. There, she stopped to gather her nerve. The staircase to the third floor, where all the bedrooms were, was at the very end of the second floor hall. She strongly doubted she'd make it to those stairs before someone waylaid for being late for dinner, but she fully intended to try!

Michiru took a deep steadying breath and gingerly pushed the right door open. The hinges squealed abominably. She winced. _Well, that just killed my plan for sneaking past the dining room_. With a sigh, she pushed the door the rest of the way open.

Silver haired Chika leaned against the right wall with his arms crossed. Black-haired Shito leaned against the left, also with his arms crossed. Both wore matching scowls.

Michiru put on what she hoped was a serene smile. "I'm back?"

Shito's scowl deepened. "Welcome back."

Chika straightened from the wall and his lip curled baring an over-long canine, trademark of being undead. "Where the hell have you been?"

Shito also straightened from the wall then abruptly sniffed. "Why do you smell like burned paper?"

Michiru winced before she could stop herself. She kept forgetting how sharp a zombie's sense of smell was. She stepped further in, letting the door swing closed behind her. While scrambling for something to say, she unbuttoned her coat; it was much warmer on the second floor. Unfortunately, she couldn't think of a thing to tell them that wouldn't set them off explosively. Deciding that discretion was the better part of valor, she strode past them, determined to get to the far stairs - and Kurou. "I'll tell you after I put my coat and book bag away."

Chika stalked after her. "Why not just tell us now?"

Shito followed after Chika, sniffing the air behind her suspiciously.

"It's...complicated." Michiru picked up the pace, not quite running, more like a trot. "I'll meet you in the dining room in just a few minutes, okay?" She didn't wait for a reply. She bolted for the stairs.

Chika's shout chased her down the hall. "Damn it, Gopher!"

~ * ~ 


	14. Chapter 14

**~ Fourteen ~**

Michiru climbed the stairs at a run then dashed down the hall toward her room. _Gotta hurry... Gotta hurry_... The boys would be after her soon. She dove into her book-bag for her room key and shoved it in the lock. The lock clicked and the door opened. Michiru threw herself through the door, slammed it closed then turned the lock.

She turned to look for the mini-reaper. "Kurou?" Her breath puffed out before her. The room was _freezing_. She definitely needed to get the fire started.

The little manikin sat up from the center of her pillow and yawned hugely. Apparently, he'd been asleep. "Um... Yes...?"

Michiru moved to the fireplace and grabbed a paper coated fire-log from the box sitting to the right. "Kurou, have you ever seen a paper zombie?" She tossed the log on the grate then stood to collect the long-necked lighter from the top of her narrow mantle.

Kurou sucked in a sharp breath. "What?"

Michiru knelt to click the lighter to light the fire-log. "With my glasses on they looked like normal, low-level zombies." The corner of the log caught on the third click. "But when I took my glasses off, they were paper _shaped_ like zombies covered in words." She set a couple of wood logs around the fire-log. "Have you seen one of those before?"

Kurou's voice deepened. "Where did you see such a thing?"

Michiru stood up and turned to face the doll-sized reaper. "There was a bunch of them out on the street."

The mini reaper fluttered over to her to grab onto her coat. "You are _not_ to go near those!"

Michiru blinked. "Then you _have_ seen them before?"

The miniature reaper scowled in her face. "Were you chased?"

Michiru frowned and unbuttoned her coat. "No, not at all. It was like I was invisible."

"Good." The small reaper sighed and released her. He floated back over to the bed and plopped down on her pillow. "Do you know who they _were_ targeting?"

Michiru nibbled on her bottom lip. She wasn't sure if she should tell him. After all, Shiba was the one who had Kurou's core.

The small reaper frowned at her, his gaze narrowing. "You _do_ know."

Michiru's heart rate kicked up a notch. "I ran into them completely by accident!" She frowned abruptly. "I think..." Shiba _did_ say something about wanting to ask her a question, and it was pretty obvious that those zombies were after him...

The small reaper folded his hypothetical arms over his barely existent chest. "Tell me who it was." He rolled his eyes. "Though I can pretty much guess."

Michiru blew out a breath and began to take her coat off. The room had warmed considerably. "It was Shiba; Reiichirou Shiba, the guy with your core."

"I figured as much." The small reaper sighed heavily and scrubbed at his mop of red hair. "How many?"

Michiru set her coat on one of the hangers on the pole suspended by hooks on the wall that served as her closet, and frowned. "Zombies? I counted twenty-four." A chilly breeze brushed against the back of Michiru's neck. She turned to look at her windows and noticed that one of them was pushed open. The space was just large enough for a tiny doll-like reaper to get through. No wonder the room was so cold! She walked over to the window, the uneven floorboards creaking under her shoes.

"Did he go after the zombies, or did he abandon them?"

She pulled the window closed then tugged the heavy curtains together to block the draft. "He went straight after them."

"Tell me, what color was his core?"

Michiru frowned. _Oh, yeah, the color.._. "A dark yellow."

"I see." Kurou blew out a heavy sigh. "It's probably only a matter of days now."

She walked back to her bed. "Matter of days...for what?"

The small reaper scowled at her. "Just stay away from that brat from now on." He waved a barely existent hand. "Oh, and you better warn the other brats to avoid him too. He'll go after them for their dark matter, and he won't be able to stop himself."

She frowned in confusion. "Go after them for their dark matter?"

Kurou turned to snarl at her. "They're zombies, did you forget?!"

Michiru winced. She hadn't forgotten. It was just that she didn't quite see them as...

"Anyway..." The doll-like reaper abruptly pointed at her. "You stay the hell away from that brat! That's an order! You hear me?"

Michiru stiffened in shock. "But... But I have to get your core..."

Kurou slashed out with his hypothetical hand. "Forget the core! It's too late for that now!"

 _What?_ Michiru's breath caught in her throat. "Too late...?"

The little reaper stood up and turned his back to her. "It's not mine anymore. Consider it gone."

"Gone...?" Pain stabbed through Michiru's heart. What did he mean by _gone_?

Kurou started pacing back and forth across the bed's coverlet. "I knew that too many of us were operating without partners, but to think they'd even consider..." He shook his tiny head hard. " _Argh_! What a pain in the ass!"

Panic began to well up in Michiru's heart. "Kurou, please tell me what's going on?"

Kurou blew out a sigh. "It's nothing you need to worry about. Just stay away from the brat and it'll fix itself in a few days."

Michiru waved her hands in confusion. "But your core...?"

Kurou turned to Michiru and shouted. "Forget the damned core! It belongs to that damned brat now!" He turned away to scowl at her headboard. "He's had it too long and it's merged with his soul." He waved his hypothetical hand in dismissal. "In a few days, he'll manifest and it'll all be over."

"Manifest...?" Michiru felt the blood leave her face. "You're saying that Shiba's going to become a... _reaper_?"

Kurou sighed heavily. "Yes."

Michiru really didn't want to ask, but she kind of needed to know. "And those paper zombies?"

Kurou shrugged. "Training tools for new reapers. Though in this case, it's probably being used to feed his core to bring him up to power for manifestation." He turned to face her. "The dark matter they carry is highly concentrated, so you keep far away from them. Understood?"

Michiru nodded quickly. Her heart felt like a lump of lead in her chest. She had _failed_. She had failed to keep her promise. Her eyes began to water and tears began to slip out. "I'm sorry."

Kurou rolled his one visible eye and scowled. "For what?"

Michiru sucked in a breath in an attempt to keep her voice steady. "I p-promised to g-get it b-back; your core."

Kurou blew out a sigh then walked across the coverlet to her side. "Fledgling, you _are_."

Michiru looked at Kurou with watery eyes. "But you just said...?"

A minor explosion of dark power went off beside her and a strong hand wrapped in cloth and leather settled on her shoulder. Kurou frowned at her with his lovely face uncovered. "Yes, that core is gone, but you're helping me grow a new one."

Michiru looked up from the circle of his arms. "I-I am?"

He pulled her close to whisper against her ear. "And in the most pleasant way imaginable."

 _He means with s_ \- Michiru's face heated ferociously. "Oh..."

 ** _Bam! Bam! Bam!_** Heavy thuds slammed against her door. "Yo, Gopher! You gonna eat, or what?"

With a soft _poof_ of black feathers that swiftly dissolved, Kurou returned to the size of a doll. "Damned interruptions." He sighed heavily then turned to her. "Go eat."

Michiru turned to frown at the little reaper. "And you?"

The small manikin waved a barely existent hand. "Already did."

Michiru blinked. _He did?_ Well, she _was_ kind of late and Koyomi was known to set out a bowl for him if Michiru missed a meal. Unfortunately, this also meant that she'd have to face the dining room inquisition _all by herself_.

Chika banged on the door again. "Are you alive in there, Gopher?"

"Yes, yes...!" Michiru rose and went to the door. "Coming, Chika...!" She unlocked the door and opened it.

A scowling Chika and a glowering Shito towered over her **.**

With a feeling of utter doom, she swallowed hard, stepped out into the hall, and closed her door quietly behind her.

With the boys playing escort, Michiru's walk to the dining room was silent, but the air was thick with tension. Michiru wanted to say something, anything, to break the tension, but was afraid that saying anything at all would trigger an interrogation she wasn't prepared for.

What was she going to tell them? Well, she had to tell them about Shiba. There was no way around it, especially if he was only days away from becoming a reaper. However, that didn't mean she had to tell them _everything_ ; such as that she'd actually spoken to him - and that he had her phone number.

~ ZL ~

In the small run-down dining room Michiru sat down at the trestle table with a bowl of beef stew Koyomi had kept warm in the oven for her.

Directly across from her, Shiba and Chika drew out chairs and sat down with near identical scowls.

Shito's scowl melted into a pleasant smile. "So...?"

Her first spoonful half-way to her open mouth, Michiru blinked at him. "Eh?"

Still scowling, Chika crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. "Where were you?"

Michiru's mouth snapped closed and her brow twitched in annoyance. It was impolite to eat while someone was talking, but if she set her bowl aside, she'd end up rushing to answer all their questions before her dinner got cold. This often resulted in revealing far more than she wanted to, _and_ a cold dinner. They'd played this game one too many times with her already.

Michiru shoved the spoon in her mouth and chewed. It _was_ impolite to eat while someone was talking, but it was _also_ impolite to interrupt someone with questions while they were eating.

Chika and Shito blinked, apparently surprised.

Shito recovered the quickest, his wine red eyes narrowing, but his smile returned. "You've gotten quite... _willful_ lately, Miss Kita."

Michiru blinked. If that was meant to be an insult, it was rather...mild by Shito's usual standards. He normally went straight to death-threats.

Chika's lips curled into a smirk. "You're not... _hiding_ something from us, are you?"

The small hairs on the back of Michiru's neck and all down her arms lifted in alarm. She swallowed her mouthful, but it had a hard time going down her suddenly tight throat.

The loud _bang_ of a soup ladle smacking a counter-top erupted from the kitchen area. "That's _enough,_ you two...!" Koyomi bared her white teeth and glared from the other side of the long counter, her eyes glowing blue with male Yomi's annoyance. "Let the kid eat, damn it! She can talk to you after she's done."

Chika exchanged an annoyed glance with Shito, but the silver-haired teenager waved a long lanky hand in Koyomi's direction. "Yeah, yeah... Fine, fine... We'll let her eat first."

Koyomi smiled sweetly. "Good, then you can both help me with the dishes while she eats!"

Chika promptly blew a gasket. He leapt to his feat and shouted, "WHAT?!"

Shito scowled, but rose from his chair. He grabbed onto Chika's shirt collar and dragged the silver-haired boy into the kitchen area while dodging Chika's swinging fists and kicking feet.

Michiru was glad for the temporary reprieve. She needed time to think on what she'd say and how she'd say it.

~ ZL ~

Michiru wiped her lips with a cloth napkin, looked at the boys once again sitting across from her, and said the most relevant part of what she knew.

Chika lunged to his feet and shouted. "Shiba's gonna be a... _ **what**_ **?!** " His alarmed shout ended on an ear-splitting shriek that rattled the windows.

Michiru winced. With the way Chika's voice could climb so impossibly high, sometimes she really wondered if he was actually done with puberty.

Sitting at the table next to him, Shito's eyes widened. "No fucking way..."

Michiru bit down on her bottom lip and clenched her hands together in her lap. "That's what Mr. Kurou says, and it's supposed to happen sometime in the next couple of days. Um, which is why Mr. Kurou says you should stay away from him." She looked away. "Because he'll attack you." Her throat tightened. "For your dark matter." The way _she_ had attacked Shito. She glanced at the Chinese boy briefly.

Shito frowned. "Then you took so long to get here...?"

Michiru forced herself to hold their gazes. "Because I saw Shiba on the street killing zombies." It was the truth, just not _all_ of it. She thought about telling them about the paper zombies, but wasn't sure if she should. After all, that was a reaper matter, and it wasn't as if they could see the difference the way she could. It was also possible that killing a few of them might actually count _financially_.

That was, _if_ the zombies appearing on Yuuta's program _were_ the paper zombies.

Chika raised his fist. "Oi! That bastard is the one cutting into our profits?!"

Shito wine-red eyes narrowed. "And you ran straight to your room to talk to the reaper about this, why?"

Michiru nibbled on her bottom lip, but didn't lower her gaze. She'd expected this question from Shito. The Chinese prince _always_ asked the uncomfortable questions. "Because Shiba's core, or rather Mr. Kurou's core, looked funny; the color was off." Also truth, but again, not the _whole_ truth.

Chika blinked. "Off...?"

Michiru nodded. "It was originally violet. Now it's yellow. Mr. Kurou says that it's because the core has merged with Shiba's soul. That's how he knew that Shiba was going to become a reaper soon."

Chika flopped back down into his wooden chair. It creaked ominously. He rubbed his face with both hands. "Bloody fucking hell... The one reaper was bad enough, but _Shiba_ as a reaper...? God damn it...!"

Shito's jaw tightened. "You're forgetting that Michiru will eventually be a reaper too."

Michiru shook her head. "I won't be a reaper for a while yet. It won't happen until I die."

Chika threw out his arms. "FUCK! Can I get drunk now?"

Shito slanted his gaze toward Chika. "You're still under legal age."

Chika rolled his gaze toward Shito. "I don't _care_ if I'm underage. I need to get blitzed to deal with all this."

Koyomi yelled out from the kitchen area. "You're not touching my _Fanta_!"

Chika yelled back toward the kitchen. "The only one who gets drunk on _Fanta_ is _**you**_ , Koyomi!"

It was one of the odder idiosyncrasies surrounding Koyomi. Besides harboring a second soul that could hear the dead; a _male_ soul, Koyomi actually got drunk on a certain brand of _non_ -alcoholic drink that wasn't even carbonated. Michiru often wondered if the super-high sugar content had anything to do with it.

Michiru rose from her chair to deliver her bowl to Koyomi for washing. "I'm going to go take a bath."

Shito lifted his nose and looked away. "The girls have the showers today. We get the bath."

Michiru rolled her eyes. "Fine, then I'll go take _a shower_."

Chika rose from his chair, the legs scraping across the floorboards with a hideous screech. "I'm gonna go to the corner and get some beer from the vending machines. _They_ don't care if I'm underage."

Shito shrugged. "Suit yourself, but no drinking until after tonight's work."

Chika frowned down at Shito. "Fine, fine... You want any? Not that I'm paying for yours."

Shito sneered up at Chika. "I don't drink _beer_."

Chika glared. "What? Beer not good enough for you?"

Shito's snorted. "Why would I _want_ to drink something that tastes so damned foul?"

Chika rolled his eyes. "Look, you..." He set one hand on his jutting hip. "Nobody drinks beer for its _taste_. They drink it to _get drunk_."

Michiru rolled her eyes and quietly walked to the door of the dining hall.

Shito called out to her. "Miss Kita, make sure to dry your hair thoroughly, and dress warm; wear slacks for tonight's work. It's going to go below freezing tonight."

Michiru looked back with a smile. "Okay."

Chika pointed a finger at her. "And a heavy sweater under your coat too! You're useless to us if you get sick!"

Shito smacked the back of Chika's head hard. "Idiot."

Chika flinched and hissed in pain. "What the fuck is _your_ problem?!"

Michiru sighed and stepped out of the dining room to head for her room. She wondered if getting drunk might not be all that bad an idea. It would be an easy way to just _not think_ for a little while.

Unfortunately, being passed out drunk was also a quick way to die if the dorm was attacked, which _had_ happened before - last year, in fact. She smiled sourly. _Unless of course, you were already dead and a zombie._ Actually, it wasn't so much that the guys couldn't die, they _could_. It just took a _lot_ more effort to kill them than it did to kill her.

Michiru rolled her eyes. " _Mou_... Being an ordinary person is such a pain sometimes!"

~ * ~


	15. Chapter 15

**~ Fifteen ~**

Sitting in the passenger, front seat of Koyomi's rattle-trap of a Toyota, Michiru kept a death-grip on the passenger-side door handle on her left, and shivered despite her heavy black hooded coat and green scarf. With three of the four windows fully down, and it being several hours past nightfall, it was an icy, windy ride.

Aso's speeding chopper bike followed only a car-length behind.

Michiru eyed the demonically grinning driver to her right. Koyomi was definitely speeding, or rather Yomi was. For some reason, Koyomi didn't like driving. However, the male spirit that possessed her, Yomi, liked driving perhaps a little _too_ much.

Michiru tightened her fingers on the plastic door handle. "M-m-m- Mr. Yomi, shouldn't we at least stay _within_ the speed limits?"

Perched nonchalantly on Michiru's shoulder, the tiny reaper rolled his one visible eye.

Laughing, or rather cackling madly, Yomi leaned over the steering wheel, her gaze pinned on the road directly ahead. "What for? The cops don't come out to the dead part of the city."

Yomi had a point. The industrial wasteland of abandoned warehouses and factories that they were speeding through had all shut down back in the eighties. Most of the buildings near the more occupied parts of the city had already been torn down, but there was quite literally a full twelve blocks of abandoned and crumbling factories and apartment buildings that had yet to see a wrecking ball. The maze of streets that ran through it were scarred with cracks and potholes from neglect, and fully half of the streetlights were out too, making driving hazardous - for normal people anyway.

Koyomi might be human, but Yomi was a spirit with a preternatural ability to see in the dark, in addition to being able to hear the dead. If there was something in the road, Yomi would definitely see it, even at their current speed.

Sitting directly behind Koyomi in a black overcoat, Chika stared out the window on his right at the passing wasteland of rotting factories all around them. "This area's so dead, not even vagrants will camp out here."

Sitting directly behind Michiru wearing a deep red overcoat and staring out the window to his left, Shito snorted. "That's because any vagrants that actually try to camp out here get eaten."

Michiru winced. _Eaten by zombies_.

Chika laughed. "Best zombie hunting grounds in the city! No matter how many times we clean them out, more always show up."

Shito sighed. "Feral zombies tend to hide from daylight, and this area has thousands of places to hide until nightfall - when they come out to hunt."

Michiru shrank into her seat. _To hunt people_.

"Oi, five-hundred yen!" Chika leaned over to whack the back of Michiru's seat. "Take your glasses off and see if you can spot our paycheck."

Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, Michiru reached up to take off her glasses and focused on her sight. Her senses whirled out of her in an ever widening spiral around the car, buildings, objects and trees becoming semi-transparent blurs to her gaze.

Chika leaned between the seats. "See anything yet?"

Michiru frowned in concentration. "Not yet." However, on the edge of her senses, she could _feel_ something niggling at her, drawing her attention in a certain direction...

Under her ear, Kurou's deep voice whispered to her. "Pull from your heart, your core, and push it into your eyes."

Michiru concentrated on her heart, and pulled. A slow curl of something smoky and crisp with electricity spun up from around Michiru's heart and slid into the back of her eyes. Her circle of vision abruptly widened by a great deal. Her gaze locked on a deep black ring, then four others around it. Her arm flew up and swung to the left. She pointed at her window. "That way! A really strong one, and four others, much weaker."

Chika whacked on the back of Yomi's seat. "Step on it, Yomi! Let's go! Let's go!"

Yomi grinned and stomped on the gas. "I'm on it!"

~ ZL ~

Koyomi's battered Toyota rolled slowly into the cracked and weed-filled parking lot of a corrugated steel-walled factory that took up an entire block. Every window on the ground floor and the one above it was shattered out, the panes jagged with broken glass.

In the back seat, Chika and Shito grabbed their own wrists and literally pulled their right hands off, the flesh and bones parting halfway up their forearms. Without a word, they traded detached limbs, then pressed the limbs to the stumps of their arms. The limbs fused together without a trace of ever having been removed.

Shito leaned close to Michiru and spoke softly. "Where are they, exactly?"

Eyes wide, Michiru spoke in the dead drone her voice tended to fall in when she used her 'sight'. "Two by this door, and one halfway between this floor and the next. The really strong one is on the fourth floor with..." She squinted to sharpen her gaze. She could definitely make out make out another figure, but it _didn't_ have a black ring around its neck. "A _living_ human is up there with it."

Shito hissed out a curse in Chinese. "We'll need to hurry or there'll be a fifth zombie." He grabbed hold of the door handle.

Michiru abruptly saw the fourth zombie. "Wait! There's one more weak one!" She turned all the way around in her seat to point out the back window. "There!"

A handful of yards way behind the car was someone dressed like a vagrant in a battered green coat, but holding a bat studded with nails. Its mouth opened on a hideous moan and it raised the bat.

Chika shoved his door open and lunged out of the car. "I got it!" He held out his palm and a long katana sword emerged from it, blade first. A handcuff manifested around his wrist along with a chain that was fused to the end of the sword's grip. He raised his sword in an aggressive stance and grinned fiercely. "Come to me, my sweet bank deposit!" He slashed at the zombie swiftly and without mercy.

Shito leaned forward to tap Koyomi on the shoulder. "You two, stay in the car-"

Michiru turned sharply to face Shito. "But, I want to help too!"

Shito bared his teeth at her. "Idiot! I promised to protect you. Don't you dare make me break that promise!"

Michiru flinched back.

Koyomi smiled. "I'll be sure she's protected."

"I'm counting on you." Shito nodded. "Oh, and roll up the windows. It'll keep any strays from smelling you and attacking the car."

Koyomi hit the button on her door to make the power windows all close at once.

Shito opened his door and left the car, closing the door behind him. A long-barreled pistol emerged from his right hand chained to a handcuff that formed around his wrist. "Akatsuki, I'll meet you inside!"

"Be done in a second!" Chika raised his sword to guide the sparkling blue lights of the fallen zombie's soul up into to the rippling surface of the next plane. "Guidance complete."

The two boys bolted for the shattered roll door that led into the factory.

Her _shinigami_ sight still active, Michiru's gaze was abruptly drawn straight up. Something huge was floating up there with a bright blue core. Clearly it wasn't a zombie, and the semi-transparent outline seemed to have... _wings_.

On her shoulder, Kurou hissed. "A reaper."

Michiru gasped. "A what...?!"

Kurou grabbed her by the ear. "Say nothing! It's likely here just to watch."

Michiru whispered to the doll on her shoulder. "Watch what?" Her gaze was forcibly yanked to the roof of the building - and the wearer of a black ring in a long black coat. Her gaze abruptly focused. The owner of the black ring's shoulder-length hair was dirty blond, even worse, he was carrying a long-handled scythe. She squeaked in alarm. "Shiba!"

Koyomi whirled to stare at Michiru. "Did you say Shiba, as in _Reiichirou Shiba_?"

"Yes, and the guys don't know he's here!" Michiru took two panicked breaths then blinked and shouted, "Cell phone! Cell phone!" She fumbled her violet phone out of her coat pocket, flipped it open, and mashed the number for Shito. She nearly dropped it before pressing it to her ear.

The phone buzzed four times before it clicked and an annoyed Shito answered. "What? I'm busy!"

Michiru did her best not to yell into the phone. "Shito, Shiba's on the roof!"

"Fuck!" The call abruptly disconnected.

On her shoulder, Kurou snarled. "Those idiots need to get out of there! That brat is too close to manifesting. They'll be taken along with the rest!"

Michiru's heart nearly stopped in her chest. She redialed Shito's number. It buzzed and buzzed... No answer. She hit Chika's number. It buzzed and buzzed... No answer. "They're not answering! Why aren't they answering?!"

Koyomi set her hand on Michiru's shoulder. "Relax, they're probably just fighting."

Michiru closed the phone and shoved it back into her pocket. _Just fighting. Right_... Just fighting...who? _Shiba_? In a complete panic, she shoved open the door.

Koyomi grabbed for her, but missed. "Michiru!"

"Mr. Yomi, I have to warn them to get them out of there!" She slammed the door closed and bolted for the factory.

Koyomi shoved open her door and lunged out of the car after her. "Michiru! Are you insane? You're unarmed!" From the small of her back she drew a pair of long hunting knives. "Wait for me!"

The tiny reaper flew after Michiru. "Fledgling, stop!" He grabbed onto her hood, stopping her in her tracks, and nearly choking her in the process.

Michiru tugged at her hood."I have to do something...!"

Kurou tugged even harder. "You can't help them!"

"Michiru!" Koyomi skidded to a halt at Michiru's side. "What's going on?"

Michiru turned to her sharply. "Mr. Yomi, Shiba is about to become a reaper!"

Koyomi sucked in a sharp breath. "What? _Right now_?!"

Michiru pulled at her captured hood. "If the guys go near him, they'll be reaped! I have to stop them!"

Koyomi's gaze narrowed and turned frigid blue. "I'll do it. You stay here!"

Michiru grabbed onto Koyomi's sleeve. "But, Mr. Yomi...!"

Yomi smiled with Koyomi's cherubic face. "I'll be fine." She lifted one of her hunting knives and flipped it around her hand. "Trust me." She turned and bolted for the factory door.

Koyomi's sleeve slid from Michiru's fingers.

Alone in the deserted parking lot with the battered Toyota, and a corpse only a hundred or so yards away, Michiru danced from foot to foot. "What do I do? What do I do?"

The tiny reaper flew right into Michiru's face. "You stay where you are, and keep out of danger!"

A deep and vibrating masculine voice came from above. "Now where's the fun in that?"

Michiru looked up.

Floating above her, the hazy outline around the blue core solidified into a hooded and cloaked, long-limbed man clad in tattered black leather with a blue-black feathered collar. Pitch black wings of monstrous size flapped slowly at his back. The man pushed the hood back exposing a sharply angular face with bright blue eyes framed by long bronze hair bound into a loose pony tail that drifted past his waist. His smile was wide and revealed fangs. "Well, well... If it isn't Crow? Or rather, what's left of him."

Kurou scowled up at the apparition.

The reaper drifted lower and narrowed his gaze on Michiru. "So this is your fledgling? Hmm... Cute, and close to hatching too, but..." He suddenly frowned. "You're bonded? Already?"

Kurou growled. "What of it?"

The reaper floated lower. "If you're bonded, then why haven't you pushed her into manifestation and recovered your core?"

Kurou looked away. "That is none of your concern, Inu."

Michiru blinked. _Inu? Dog...?_ Wait... If she'd manifested, Kurou would have recovered his body? She looked sharply at the doll-sized reaper.

The tiny reaper glared at her. "Ignore him, Michiru."

The hovering reaper scowled. "Crow, she's practically bursting at the seams! Only a little more and..."

Kurou abruptly shouted in a voice far larger than his body. " _Drop it_ , Inu! I mean it! This is _my_ fledgling! I will do as I please with her!"

Michiru flinched. It was kind of nice that Kurou so readily claimed her as his, but the ' _do as I please with her'_ was a little...scary.

The floating reaper lifted his hands in mock surrender. "Oh, but of course!" He smiled sourly and crossed his arms. "You did teach her how to manifest her scythe, at least. Right?"

Kurou blinked. "What?"

The reaper, Inu tilted his head toward the entrance of the parking lot. "Because you are about to have quite a bit of company." He smiled, showing fangs. "And this one's mortal body looks somewhat... _fragile_."

Michiru's death-sight abruptly focused on the area just outside the fence. Roughly twenty zombies were shambling their way through the surrounding rubble. She squeaked in alarm. "Zombies!" Her sight abruptly zeroed in on their black rings. They weren't solid, they were writing. "Paper..." Michiru breathed. "They're all made of paper." Her sight zipped from zombie to zombie until she spotted a solid ring among them, then another, and another... "No wait, there's a few real ones mixed in."

Kurou looked up at the hovering reaper. "What is the meaning of this, Inu?"

Inu rolled his blue eyes and sighed. "That sorcerer _really_ loves working overtime."

Kurou's eyes widened. "You're using a _sorcerer_ to make those?"

Inu shrugged. "It's the quickest method to bring my fledgling to manifestation." He looked down at Michiru, grinned and winked. "Good luck keeping that mortal body, little fledgling!" He vanished in a puff of feathers.

What Shiba had said earlier suddenly came to mind. She turned to Kurou. "Shiba called the paper zombies...um, _shikigami_ , I think. He said they're made by _onmyoji_ , yin-yang sorcerers." She frowned. "You didn't know?"

Kurou scowled. "My trainer felt that such fakes were too dangerous around living humans because they tear apart anything in their direct path, not just their training target." He sighed. "Well, that and he despised sorcerers."

Michiru considered her own experiences with the Chinese sorcerer. "I don't like them much either."

The tiny reaper scowled fiercely. "You'll like them even less if you get caught by one."

Michiru blinked. "Who? Me...? I thought sorcerers couldn't do anything to normal people."

The tiny reaper flew around to her face. "Fledgling, you are _not_ a normal human, remember?" He fluttered off to her side to eye the oncoming zombie hoard. "The gods help you if one of them realizes this."

Michiru ducked her head, her cheeks heating. Suddenly the rest of what the reaper, Inu, had said. "Um... What was this about manifesting a scythe?" She peeked over at the floating reaper.

Kurou narrowed his one visible eye at Michiru. "Do you want to die as a human and become a reaper?"

Michiru's eyes widened. "No!" She waved her hands before her. "No thank you, I'll pass!"

"Then do _not_ try to call your scythe. It absorbs dark matter directly, and transfers it to your core. That is what it reaps from the undead."

Michiru tilted her head and blinked. "Is _that_ why you never taught me how to make one?"

Kurou looked away. "You would have manifested the first night you used it. That is how close you were to losing your human life."

Michiru smiled. "But now we have a way to keep that from happening, right?"

Kurou blinked. "Ah..." He nodded. "Indeed."

"So it's okay if I call a scythe tonight, right?" Michiru's smile broadened, despite the sweat gathering on her brow. She pointed beyond the floating reaper over at the large number of shambling forms only a hundred yards away. "Because I think we're kind of out of options at the moment."

~ * ~ 


	16. Chapter 16

**~ Sixteen ~**

The tiny doll sized reaper tugged at Michiru's scarf. "Quick! On top of the car! Fake zombies will only attack those directly in their path."

Michiru stepped up onto the rusty bumper of the battered Toyota and scrambled onto the hood. "But some of them are real!"

The tiny reaper continued to tug at her scarf. "On the roof. Those real zombies are the only ones that will pursue you."

Michiru climbed up on the little car's roof. The aluminum roof dipped and swayed precariously under her feet. To keep from toppling off, she sat down and tucked her feet under her.

The first wave of paper zombies split to shamble around the car to either side. She glanced over at the doll-like reaper. "Are you really going to show me how to make a scythe?"

"I'm going to show you how to call _your_ scythe. Now, stand up."

Michiru set her palms on the car's sloped roof and wobbled uneasily to her feet. "I'll fall off!"

"You won't. Once you bring your scythe into being, your sense of balance will improve - considerably."

"Improve?" Michiru blinked. "Won't a big heavy scythe knock me _more_ off balance?"

"No. It will bring your body _into_ balance."

Michiru frowned in concentration, trying to wrap her mind around what Kurou was saying. "That...doesn't make sense."

The doll flew up to stare her in the eye. "You were born a reaper. You were born with a scythe already a part of you. Your body expects it to be in your hands, so your balance is off as long as it's _not_ in your hands."

"But, I've never even held a scythe."

The doll-sized reaper sighed. "You will see once you call it."

Something thumped hard against the rear of the car, shaking it hard.

Michiru yelped in alarm, and fell to her knees.

At the rear of the battered Toyota was what appeared to be a common businessman. His mouth opened on a low hoarse moan revealing a rotting blue interior. The breeze carried the stomach-churning scent of decay. The man had clearly been dead for more than a week.

Michiru scrambled back onto her feet. "Ah... A real one!"

The tiny reaper landed lightly on Michiru's shoulder and with barely existent hands gripped the hood of her coat. Against her cheek, he whispered, "Place your palm over your heart."

Unable to look away from the dead businessman clumsily attempting to climb onto the back of the Toyota, Michiru nodded and placed her palm over her heart.

Kurou's voice deepened, resonating in her skull. "Do not look away from your prey, but feel for the handle with your fingers. Do not worry, it will rise to meet your palm."

Michiru spread her fingers, feeling across the surface of her coat. She felt a mild, sinking sensation, as though her fingers had encountered...Jell-o, for lack of a better description. It wasn't exactly pleasant, in fact, it made her heart ache as though bruised.

Kurou sighed. "That's it. Yes... Now, reach deeper and feel for the hard handle. It will feel like a bar."

She pressed deeper, and the ache in her heart increased. A small sound of discomfort escaped her lips. Something hard met Michiru's fingertips.

The dead man succeeded in stepping up on the bumper of the car, but was too clumsy to go further.

Michiru closed her fingers around the hardness. It fit against her palm perfectly, but it wasn't perfectly straight like a bar at all. It was gently curved, like the wooden handle of a hammer, only smoother. A strong feeling of longing welled up, of having missed something, or someone, important. A single tear slipped down her cheek.

"Good. Now, pull with all your strength, as fast as you can!"

Michiru pulled hard and fast. From her body burst a long deep violet pole that was gently curved yet lumpy, as though made from the branch of a tree. At the very end emerged a long, bow curved, viciously sharp and pointed blade that gleamed bright silver along the inner edge. The outer, flat edge was decorated with a profusion of vines and blooming flowers in violet and plum.

The dead man finally succeeded in clambering onto the trunk of the car. It lifted a hand, reaching for her.

At her ear, Kurou shouted, "Strike!"

Without thought, her hands took their proper places on the long handle. She raised the weighted blade and swung, smoothly, evenly, and perfectly across the black ring around the neck of the dead man. It felt so natural; so _right_ that it didn't take any effort at all.

The weight of the heavy blade carried her all the way around on the toe of her right foot in a perfect pirouette. She stopped, poised and perfectly balanced in the exact same place she had begun her swing, and for the first time in her life she didn't feel like she was going to topple over for no reason at all. A wave of euphoria sailed through Michiru, and she smiled.

The dead man froze in position, hand upraised. His head did not fall from his shoulders. He merely crumpled where he was and dropped to roll from the trunk of the car to the ground. Bubbles of blue light began to rise from it; the soul, finally released from the decaying body.

A passing paper zombie stepped on the inert corpse and continued onward toward the warehouse.

At her ear, Kurou shouted. "Pay attention! There's another one, and this one is more awake than the last one."

A dead vagrant wearing far too many coats suddenly launched itself from the ground to land hard on the trunk of the car in a crouch.

The car under Michiru bounced. However instead of toppling to the ground, she used the car's bounce as propulsion and sprang upward. With a perfectly executed mid-air flip and twirl, her scythe took the throat of the dead vagrant.

She dropped neatly back onto the car's hood, knees bent and one hand down, her fingertips touching to steady her, but with barely a bounce.

The dead man froze then fell over, and off the car. Bubbles of pale blue light began to rise from it.

At her ear, Kurou nodded. "Good, but keep alert, there are more! Remember, take only what attacks you directly! If its paper, let it go."

To Michiru, it was like a dream; twirling in the night air, free and graceful for the first time in her life. Although the night was bitterly cold, she didn't feel it. Although it was pitch-dark she could see clearly and sharply. Although she had been clumsy on her feet her entire life, her body flowed easily around the scythe that was the center of her balance; the center of her world.

She hopped secure in her steps from the roof of the car to the trunk, then leaped to the car's hood as though suspended by strings that wouldn't let her fall. It was like dancing with a trusted and long familiar partner.

And she never missed. One strike across the throat and a zombie fell, its blue soul rising in bubbles of light to disappear into the sky above.

It was exhilarating.

She dropped lightly onto the roof of the car facing the Toyota's trunk and the warehouse's gate, eagerly watching for the next attack.

The zombies were gone.

Still perched on her shoulder, Kurou sighed deeply. "That was the last one. Return your scythe to its place."

It sounded like a death knell.

 _Return it?_ In her hands, Michiru's scythe, the other half of herself, trembled. Return to being a clumsy fool that tripped over her own toes for no apparent reason? She clutched the deep violet scythe to her chest. "I... I don't want to."

Kurou leaned close to her cheek and spoke softly. "Do you wish to become a reaper this night?"

 _A reaper...? Tonight?_ Michiru closed her eyes and leaned over her scythe. She didn't want to let it go, but... Did she really want to end her time as a human - without even saying goodbye to the boys, or Koyomi, or Yuuta at Z-loan? What about her friends at school? Slowly she shook her head. _No, not yet!_ She wasn't ready to let go of her life just yet.

Kurou whispered against her ear in his deep husky voice. "Michiru, you can call it again, should you need it. It's not leaving you because it's a part of you. It is a literal extension of your core."

She nodded. He was right after all. It's not like anyone was taking it from her.

Kurou nodded. "Press the handle against your heart and let it sink into you."

The scythe began to sink into Michiru, sliding directly into her heart, and with it came the pressing weight of _wrongness_ that literally tipped her off balance. She flopped clumsily onto her butt. Utter disappointment and an overwhelming feeling of helplessness brought tears to Michiru's eyes. She closed her eyes tight, and bit her lip to keep from sobbing out loud.

With a burst of black lightning, the reaper assumed his full form and knelt behind her on the car's roof. His massive black wings opened partway and mantled around them both, the long flight feathers nearly brushing the ground on either side of the tiny Toyota. At her ear he spoke softly. "This feeling will pass fledgling. It's merely the weight of your own mortality. When you finally become the reaper you are meant to be, you will never feel it again."

"How terrible... Making little girls cry, Reaper?" The intruding voice was sly, vaguely amused, and far too familiar.

Michiru hastily wiped her eyes and looked to her right.

Wearing a pale gray overcoat, and equally pale gray Fedora hat, Bekko, manager of Z-Loan and immortal Ferryman, looked up at them with his hands deep in his pockets. His lips were curved in a smile, but his watery blue gaze was narrowed.

Michiru waved her hands before her. "No, no...! Mr Kurou, didn't make me cry!"

"Hmmm...? Is that so?" His smiled broadened to show teeth. "So you _can_ assume your true form, Reaper."

The reaper stood, his wings folding tightly under his tattered leather cape. He faced the manager of Z-Loan, his one visible eye narrowed. "For short periods of time, yes. I was under the impression that the Tachibana brat told you this."

Bekko sighed. "Miss Kita, if you would be so kind as to translate?"

Michiru took a deep breath to steady her nerves. "He says, he can for short periods of time, and he thought Chika already told you."

Bekko tilted his head to one side, still smiling, but his gaze narrowed further. "Ah... No, apparently, he forgot to mention it." He lifted a hand to tug at the brim of his hat, shadowing his eyes. "And I had absolutely no idea that you, Miss Kita, could manifest a scythe."

Michiru shrugged, a trifle self-conscious. "Mr. Kurou just showed me how, tonight." She looked up at the reaper who had started to growl. "We kind of, didn't have a choice."

"Ah... So." Bekko nodded. "However, I would like to request that you use _that_ as little as possible. You see, zombies taken by a reaper's scythe do not show up on _our_ accounts, so I'm afraid that all your efforts will not count toward your debt."

Michiru blinked. "Oh, but I only took out seven. A good twenty more passed me by."

Kurou snorted. "He doesn't want you using your scythe because he knows that the scythe collects dark matter. The more you use it, the closer you will be to becoming a reaper. Selfish bastard..."

Michiru looked up at him. "Oh, but you can stop that from happening, right?"

Kurou nodded. "Of course."

Bekko pushed the brim of his hat up revealing wide eyes. "Wait, wait, wait a minute! Did you say that over twenty zombies _passed you by_?"

Michiru blinked at Bekko. "Oh, yes, but that's because-"

Kurou abruptly knelt to cover her mouth with his broad hand. "Say no more. He does not need to know what is not his business."

Michiru nodded and gently pushed Kurou's hand away. "They all went into the warehouse where Chika, and Shito, and Koyomi..." Her eyes widened. "Oh! I can't believe I forgot! Shiba is turning into a reaper!"

Kurou sighed. "That one has most likely already manifested."

Michiru turned sharply to look up at Kurou. "Already? He's turned already?"

"Shit!" Bekko grabbed his hat and took off running for the warehouse.

Michiru slid across the car's roof and set her feet on the hood. "We should go too!"

Kurou grabbed onto the back of her coat, halting her on the edge of the roof. "No, we should _not_."

Michiru tugged at Kurou's imprisoning hand. "But, I want to help!"

"You have already absorbed your limit of dark matter. Any more, and that brat won't be the only new reaper."

Michiru stared up at the warehouse's dark rooftop. "But Shito, and Chika, and Koyomi...!"

"Are not so helpless as to need _your_ assistance. Also, that ferryman will soon join them. That one has a vested interest in keeping them in one piece." Kurou turned her around to face him. "We have a more important task at hand."

Michiru blinked up at the towering reaper. "We do?"

Kurou set his hand under her chin and pushed gently to angle her head upward. "Yes, we do. Reducing the size of your core."

Heat filled Michiru's cheeks. "N-now? _Here_?"

"Yes, now, but not here." The bandages covering his face dissolved to show his smile. He ducked his head and pressed his lips to hers.

Michiru closed her eyes and parted her lips without thought, reaching out with her tongue to caress his.

He returned the caress then inhaled sharply.

Something inside her abruptly released, unwinding like a skein of silk. The pressure around her heart eased, and a mild wave of euphoria washed through her. A soft moan escaped her.

Kurou broke the kiss to swallow, and straightened. "That should do to get us elsewhere."

More than a little lightheaded, and not only from having part of her soul drawn out, Michiru grabbed onto Kurou's sleeves. "Um... Elsewhere?"

He leaned down to lift her into her arms and held her like a child. "Are you quite sure you want to do _that_ out here, where the others can see?"

 _That?_ The meaning of _that_ abruptly surfaced: _Sex_. The light-headedness fled. "No, no! Elsewhere is fine!"

"Good. Hold on, I'm going to fly us there." His wings spread. He leaped upward and carried her into the night sky.

~ * ~ 


	17. Chapter 17

**~ Seventeen ~**

The blowing wind was so cold Michiru pressed her face against Kurou's warm chest and closed her watering eyes. She had no idea where the reaper carried her, but they weren't airborne for long, so it couldn't have been far.

Kurou set her down on the balcony of an abandoned apartment building, then hustled her through a shattered glass door into the deep shadows of what appeared to be a long-destroyed living room, the furniture broken and scattered about. A dozen or so of his long strides later brought them into what appeared to be the master bedroom with a surprisingly intact bed.

Kurou tugged his feathered cape from his shoulders and tossed it across the entire bare mattress, the silk-lined interior face up. "We do not have much time, so forgive me." He turned her to face him and with swift efficiency, unbuttoned the front of her coat, then unfastened and unzipped her jeans. He then lifted her onto the bed.

Michiru gasped in surprise. "Oh wait, my shoes...!"

Kurou set a knee on the mattress. "Forget the shoes. The mattress is already far from clean. Turn over, and lay on your stomach."

Still a bit hesitant about putting her feet on Kurou's cape, Michiru did as asked and rolled over to lay on her belly upon the cape. The masculine scent of warm leather and his body curled around her. "L-like this?"

"Yes." Kurou straddled her, his knees on either side of her hips. His long fingers took hold of the top of her pants. "It's far too cold to undress you, so we will have to do this, this way." He jerked her pants down, along with her panties, baring her butt then further down her thighs to almost her knees.

Michiru yelped in surprise, but didn't resist. She just hoped he wouldn't notice that her panties were already damp. Despite the decrepit and half-destroyed surroundings, and the cold, her body was already trembling with anticipation.

Kurou set his hands by her shoulders, the bed shifting with his weight. His wings spread out, the feathers rustling, covering them both in darkness and warmth. He pressed his lips to the side of her neck in a brief kiss then slid one hand under her and into her open coat, then under her sweater. With a soft grunt he shoved her bra upward and cupped her breast in his warm palm. His thumb caressed her swiftly hardening nipple. He then lowered himself down atop her, his chest brushing against her back, and his long legs along hers.

Michiru shivered and licked her lips. Her first orgasm had been good, and her second though somewhat frightening, had been glorious. On the verge of experiencing that glory once again, her body tensed deep inside with a sensation that could only be described as hunger. It literally felt like her body was opening wide, and drooling, like a mouth waiting for a tasty treat.

He whispered next to her ear. "Are you ready?"

Michiru licked her lips again. "Yes."

He groaned against her neck and his full weight pressed her down into his cape. The bed groaned. A hot shaft of flesh pressed into the seam of her buttocks then slid downward, clearly searching for the entrance to her body.

Michiru lifted her bottom to assist. She couldn't spread her legs, her jeans had them effectively trapped.

The heated head of his cock found her damp opening and pressed inward, then stopped only barely within her. He then reached under her hip to capture her clit with gentle fingers. "You're wet."

She winced in embarrassment. "Must you announce it?"

He chuckled. "Yes, I must." He gave her a couple of light flicks with his wicked fingers.

She gasped, but only a few heartbeats later she began to involuntarily twitch, then moaned and danced to the rhythm of his fingers. With a soft whimper, she pushed against the hot flesh sitting so temptingly at the entrance of her body.

He chuckled softly. "Impatient?"

She pushed harder against him, unable to resist the hunger burning deep in her belly. "Don't tease!"

"Oh, my apologies." The words were tinted with humor, but he gave a push of his own, his shaft entering her body slowly, and carefully, only to pull back then push inward again, more deeply. He groaned. His arms closed tight around her, his fingers almost bruising on her breast. His other hand clasped her hip, holding her still for his invasion.

After an eternity of slow deepening thrusts, he finally filled her completely, his hips pressing hard against her butt. He sucked in a harsh breath. "Forgive me, but I have reached the limit of my patience."

Breathless and vibrating with anticipation of the pleasure to come, she lifted her head, coming up on her elbows, and turned to give him a smile. "It's fine. I'm fine. Go ahead, please."

He released her hip to use that arm to push upward and pressed to her lips a hard, swift kiss. He then sucked in a breath and withdrew almost completely from her body only to lunge forward, driving back into her in one hard stroke. He gasped.

She gasped too, and moaned. Somehow, he'd struck that delicious place deep within her on the first stroke. She rolled her butt under him, luxuriating in the delicious wave of pleasure.

He choked. "Ah, shit...!" Abruptly he began pounding into her with hard, swift thrusts, grunting at the end of his strokes.

The bed creaked and groaned alarmingly.

Gripping the cape under her in her fists, she strove to push back, and twist just so, to meet his thrusts. His staccato strikes to that delicious spot within her ignited an intense pleasure that blazed upward from her belly, along her spine to ring like a temple bell in the back of her skull. Drowning in her body's swift rise toward ecstasy, soft needy whimpers quickly became outright cries of desperation. The only thought possible was simply; _more_.

Pleasure crested, halting the breath in her lungs.

Kurou's breath caught, and his arms abruptly tightened around her. He gasped out in a voice hoarse with breathlessness, "I can't- I can't hold it..." He slammed unmercifully into her.

On the very edge of falling, she turned her head, lips parted and grabbed for his head to pull him into a fierce open-mouthed kiss. Half a heartbeat later, she fell, releasing her held breath in a deep moan. Her entire body shuddered with the violence of her release.

Eyes wide open, one a blazing violet, the other a pit of utter darkness, Kurou pulled his hand free of her breast to wrap his arm around her shoulder, cupping her head and holding it in place. He sucked in a sharp breath.

In her chest, around her heart, smoky darkness unraveled into a skein of tingling silk that sailed upward, and out of her mouth. A second pang of intense pleasure shook through her. Deep within her, his cock pulsed.

Kurou's eyes closed tight. He groaned into her mouth, and slammed into her body, then again, then once more.

For several long moments the pair of them lay boneless, panting in exhaustion.

Kurou withdrew from her body then slid to the side to lay face-down beside her, one enormous wing covering her with warmth and the scent of night. His other wing slid over the edge of the bed and onto the floor. He reached over and closed his hand around hers with a light squeeze. "Are you alright?"

Rolling in a cloud of delicious euphoria, Michiru smiled at Kurou's relaxed features and turned her hand to squeeze his hand in reply. "I'm wonderful."

Kurou choked out a hoarse chuckle. "Of course you are." With a groan he pushed up to sit back on his knees, his wings folding at his back. "It's best that I get you back to your companions."

Without the warm shield of Kurou's body, and wing, a chill breeze brushed Michiru's bare behind. She couldn't help but feel disappointed that their time together was done. "I guess so." She then remembered that she'd pretty much abandoned Shito and Chika to Shiba, who was more than likely a newborn Reaper.

 _Good lord, how could I have forgotten!_ Alarm racing through her, she pushed up onto her knees. "Yes! We have to go back!" She then spent several rather embarrassing moments of struggling to pull up her jeans, and panties.

The openly amused reaper caught her hand and turned her to face him. He tugged her pants back up, tucked her clothes back into place, and buttoned up her coat. He then patted the top of her head. "Shall we go?"

~ ZL ~

The flight back toward the abandoned factory was extremely chilly, even with her coat's hood up. Suddenly, it made perfect sense why Kurou kept most of his face covered. Michiru decided quite firmly that she would not leave the dorm without a scarf, at least until summer.

The flight was mercifully short. In only minutes she could see the top of the abandoned factory. Apparently, Kurou hadn't carried her all that far. Her glasses still tucked into her coat pocket, Michiru's death-sight abruptly zeroed in on the black rings of three zombies standing near the roof's center.

One had white hair, sporting a long sword; clearly Chika. The other was black-haired and armed with a long-barreled gun. That one could only be Shito. Between them, and towering above both was a man in a torn coat holding a huge axe; clearly Aso.

To their left was a woman with two hunting knives upraised that could only be Koyomi. On the far right was a man in a long coat holding a long-handled boat oar; obviously Bekko. Only a few steps behind Bekko, and wearing a rabbit-eared hood, was Yuuta.

"I see them!"

One more was there. This one held a long-handled black scythe, and carried a sulfurous yellow core.

"Shiba!"

"It looks like the brat finally manifested." Kurou abruptly dipped to land by Koyomi's car and set Michiru down on the broken pavement.

As soon as her feet hit the broken pavement Michiru bolted for the factory. "I'm going!"

In a _poof_ of black feathers, Kurou dissolved into his doll-like form and grabbed onto her hood. "You should _not_. The ferryman will keep the brats safe. You will only get in their way."

Michiru tripped on nothing in particular, but she recovered quickly and kept heading for the doors to the abandoned factory. "I'm not _completely_ useless."

Kurou climbed onto her shoulder. "You are _not_ completely useless, but you are only human where they are not."

The reminder struck her square in the heart. Michiru blinked against the moisture gathering in her eyes, but fisted her hands at her sides. "Even so..." She ducked past the broken doors to step into the deep shadows of the factory.

A handful of semi-rotted human corpses sprawled on the floor, but the smell of burned paper was thick in the air.

Michiru stepped carefully around the bodies. Her death-sight showed that none of them were zombies. _Well, not anymore._ She stopped before a rickety and battered metal staircase and looked up into darkness

From above came the sound of shouting, gunshots, and steel clanging against steel.

She grabbed onto the scarred metal railing with a gloved hand and hurried up the stairs. Her sneakers rang hollowly on the steps, and the staircase rocked and swayed under her feet. She did not look down.

After a short eternity of climbing, Michiru reached the top. She stepped over the fallen wreck that had once been the steel door, and looked through the gaping doorway to the rooftop. An icy wind blew across her face.

Right in front of her, Chika had his sword drawn and pointed with both hands. His shirt was in shreds. Both his chest and his arms were littered with bleeding cuts. "You crazy psychopath...! What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

On Chika's left, Shito panted for breath. His coat had jagged rips and his right arm dripped blood. His garnet eyes narrowed, sighting down the barrel of his drawn pistol held in both hands. "Akatsuki, I don't think he hears you."

Balanced on the very edge of the building was a battered, and blood spattered Shiba, laughing maniacally while holding a nastily knotted pitch-black scythe. His black coat and shredded, blood-stained, white shirt flapped open in the wind revealing the butterfly tattooed over his heart. His core burned a bright sulfurous yellow, as did his eyes.

Kurou sighed heavily. "Pitiful..."

Michiru blinked. "Pitiful? Who? Shiba?"

Kurou nodded toward Shiba. "See how bright his core burns? Eventually it will consume that stupid brat."

Michiru stared at Kurou, wide-eyed. " _Consume_ him...?"

"That brat was never meant to be a reaper. His body was never meant to hold anything more than a human soul. Sooner or later, that core will burn the stupid brat out of existence."

Chika stomped his booted foot. "Oi! Shiba...!"

To Chika and Shito's right, Aso frowned with his massive, two-handed axe held crosswise. "Is he high on something?"

On the far right Bekko lowered his large boat-oar from his shoulder to hold it cross-wise before him. "He's drunk on dark matter."

Chika blinked. "He's drunk on... _what_?"

Bekko moved forward a step. "You should all leave. Now."

" _Hah_...?" Chika blinked at Bekko. "Leave?!"

Shito's red eyes narrowed to slits. He spoke through a clenched jaw. "Why?"

Bekko didn't take his gaze off of Shiba. "You can't handle this. Go!"

Chika stepped back from the ferryman. "What the...?"

Bekko's mouth twisted in open annoyance. "He's not a zombie anymore, he's a reaper."

Chika stiffened and his eyes widened. "Fuck...!"

"We're leaving." Shito turned and grabbed Chika by the arm to shove him toward the door.

Aso grabbed hold of Koyomi and hauled her toward the door. "We're going too, sweetheart!"

Shiba's laughter abruptly stopped, but his mouth remained in a twisted, drunken leer. "Now, where do you think you're going? The party's just getting started!" He lifted his black scythe and leaped.

Bekko lunged forward to meet him.

In that split-second, Michiru knew that Bekko didn't stand a chance of stopping Shiba's scythe. It wasn't that Bekko's oar would break under the strike; she doubted anything could break that. It was that the oar made a straight defensive line across Bekko's body. Shiba's weapon, however, had a body-length blade set at a forty-five degree angle in addition to a body-length handle. That blade would slice Bekko in half long before the scythe's handle even reached the defense of the oar.

Terror poured through her - and anger.

Within half a heartbeat, Michiru drew her scythe from her heart. Power and confidence filled her to overflowing. She leaped with the grace of a dancer from the door to the center of the roof.

Kurou shouted in her ear, " _What are you doing_?!"

Ignoring the tiny reaper, Michiru jammed the butt of her scythe handle against the floor, tipped it forward, and turned her blade under the path of Shiba's descending blade with the absolute faith that this would stop him.

The clang of the meeting blades was loud, and the power of Shiba's down-stroke vibrated down her arms. His blade skidded harshly against the exterior flat edge of hers, ten centimeters from its target.

Shiba blinked at her. "Huh...?"

Bekko, his oar still lifted, stared at her wide-eyed.

She spared Bekko only a glance and shouted " _Go_! I'll hold him back!"

Bekko nodded briefly and ducked backwards, but paused by the doorway.

His eyes narrowing, Shiba smiled at Michiru and continued to push at her blade. "Michiru, how come you have a scythe?"

Michiru stared up at Shiba, her hands tightening on her scythe's handle. Shiba might be stronger, but technically, he was pushing against the rooftop while all she had to do was keep her scythe balanced under his blade. It was surprisingly easy.

Answering Shiba's question, on the other hand...

Shiba's gaze shifted to the tiny reaper hovering by her shoulder, and smirked. "So that shitty reaper made you do his dirty work, did he?"

Michiru frowned. "What...?" She had no idea what Shiba was talking about. She shook her head briefly. "A-anyway, Shiba, you need to stop now. Okay?"

Shiba pressed harder, his grin widening. "Stop what, Michiru-chan?" He flicked his fingers.

An ectoplasmic dagger abruptly hissed into being and flashed toward Michiru's face.

Michiru's hands reacted instantly. Without lifting the pinned scythe from the rooftop, she simply adjusted her handhold to shift the angle of her blade a little lower, and turned the handle - moving the blade just enough to block the flying dagger.

The dagger clanged into the blade, ricocheted off to the left, and fizzled out of existence.

Shiba snarled and jumped back, freeing his scythe from hers. "Michiru-chan, you really shouldn't play with the big kids." He drew his scythe back for a wide side-swing, clearly aiming to cut her in half. "You could get hurt."

Michiru twirled around her scythe, the center of her balance, the center of her _world_ , and used the momentum to direct her swing at Shiba's scythe blade. After all, she didn't actually want to _hurt_ him.

With a harsh ring of steel against steel, Shiba's blade not only stopped cold, he was knocked skidding backwards. He stared at her wide-eyed for a heartbeat then scowled and came at her, chopping and slashing at her with his blade.

Michiru had no problem at all stopping his blade with hers and returning the strikes hard enough to push him back. Though while doing so, she frowned. Shiba's movements looked...slow, and rather clumsy, if not downright crude. After a few more counter-strikes, she realized that Shiba and his scythe were out of balance, as though his scythe was a thing _apart_ from him; something alien, and not exactly welcome - disconnected.

 _How could one be disconnected from one's soul?_ She had no idea, but that was clearly what she was seeing. "Shiba-kun, with the way you handle your scythe, I'm not the one that's going to get hurt."

Shiba stiffened, then bared his teeth in a way that couldn't possibly be considered a smile. "That's an awfully arrogant thing to say to someone twice your size, and far more experienced with weapons." He lunged forward and slashed sideways, again aiming to cut her in half.

The movement was not only slow, it was downright sloppy.

 _I'm the one being arrogant?_ Extremely annoyed, Michiru bounced upwards, right over Shiba's head, and kicked back; flipping completely over his head, then swung her blade downward toward Shiba's back.

Wide-eyed, Shiba whirled around lifting his scythe to block.

The blades slammed together with a loud ring and tangled.

Upside down in mid-air, Michiru spread her legs wide and twisted hard, turning her blade to force Shiba's blade sideways, twisting the scythe in his hands.

Shiba gasped and very nearly lost his grip, but somehow managed to twist just enough to disengage his blade from hers, and stumbled back. "How the fuck did you do _that_?!"

With a graceful twist, Michiru dropped to land in a crouch. She stood and lifted her scythe into a crosswise, defensive position. "Shiba, I don't want to hurt you, but I will if I have to."

Michiru's death sight abruptly locked on a hazy blue core floating only a few feet above Shiba's shaggy blond head.

Kurou's eye narrowed and he shouted. "Oi, Inu! You planning on letting your brat run wild like this?"

The blue-eyed reaper abruptly materialized out of thin air, his long scythe balanced on his shoulder. "What? It's not my fault your fledgling jumped out all by herself."

Shiba yelped in alarm, and jumped away, his scythe raised defensively.

Kurou huffed out an annoyed breath. "You know good and well that my fledgling could cut your brat in half without even trying. Are you sure you want to let him continue this?"

Shiba scowled at the reaper floating in mid-air. "Who the fuck are you?" Behind Shiba glimmered a rip in the empty air. One step back and he'd be gone.

On Michiru's shoulder, Kurou grunted. "Ah... So that's how he's making up for it."

Michiru blinked at the tiny reaper. "Making up for what?"

Kurou glanced at her with his one visible eye. "That brat can't fly."

Michiru blinked in confusion. "Fly...?"

Kurou snorted. "He wasn't _born_ a reaper so he doesn't have the wings."

Michiru frowned. "But I don't have wings either."

Kurou snorted. "Idiot... Just as you were born with a scythe, you were also born with wings."

Michiru's mouth dropped open. "I have wings?"

His face twisted in fury, Shiba pointed his scythe at the floating reaper. "I said, who the fuck, are you?"

Inu's blue eyes narrowed. "Your teacher, brat. Show some respect."

Shiba crouched and lifted his scythe. "Bullshit! I don't remember having any teacher like you!"

Michiru blinked. "Shiba can understand him?"

Kurou rolled his one visible eye. "They're paired."

Michiru frowned. _Was that supposed to make sense_?

"How's about I make this simple for you?" Inu abruptly grinned, showing fangs. "You follow my orders, brat, or things will get very ugly - for you!"

Eyes wide in alarm, Shiba stared at the reaper. "What the fuck...?"

Kurou, the tiny reaper raised his voice. "Inu! How long are you and your brat planning to invade my territory?"

Inu's lips curved into a sneer. "Relax, we're going."

Shiba abruptly grinned at Michiru. "That was fun. Let's do that again sometime!" He lunged for the glimmering rip in the air, and disappeared.

Inu heaved a sigh. "Great... Now I get to play hide and seek with the brat." He winked at Michiru. "Later, princess!" In a _poof_ of black feathers, the reaper disappeared.

Bekko spoke softly right behind Michiru. "Care to tell me what just happened?"

Surprised, Michiru flinched. "Um..." To buy time to think of an answer, she turned away to press her scythe back into her heart. Depression and loss crashed down on her, scattering her thoughts even further.

Kurou sighed. "Just tell him the truth. The brat's partner went after him."

Michiru took a breath and turned around.

Behind Bekko, Shito, Chika, Aso, and Koyomi peeked out of the ruined doorway.

Michiru licked her dry lips. "Well, Shiba is a reaper now, and that was Shiba's partner."

Bekko coughed dryly. "I got that part. So, where did Shiba-kun and his... _partner_ go?"

Kurou snorted. "Inu went to go get the brat to take him to Inu's home territory."

Michiru peeked up from under her long bangs. "Um... Mr. Inu went to get Shiba to take him to his- The other reaper's territory."

Bekko rubbed the bridge of his nose. "And _where_ is this territory?"

Kurou chuckled. "Hokkaido, the northern-most, and coldest part of Japan."

Michiru turned sharply to look wide-eyed at the tiny reaper sitting on her shoulder. "Hokkaido?!"

Bekko's mouth fell open.

In the doorway, four more mouths dropped open, and four voices yelled in unison. " _Hokkaido_?!"

~ * ~ 


	18. Chapter 18

**~ Eighteen ~**

The ride in Koyomi's Toyota back to the office was loud, and nerve-wracking.

It was loud because Chika couldn't seem to stop bouncing in the backseat while clapping and shouting in laughter. "Shiba's going to Hokkaido! Can you believe it? _Hokkaido...!_ "

It was nerve-wracking because Bekko was driving Koyomi's Toyota.

In the parking lot of the abandoned factory, right in front of her own car, Koyomi had abruptly collapsed unconscious. Apparently, Yomi had gone back to...wherever it was he stayed when not actively possessing Koyomi's body.

Since it was far, _far_ too long a walk home in the dead of night -with school in the morning- Bekko was their only option. However, from the way Bekko squinted fiercely over the steering wheel, he was clearly having difficulty seeing the road.

Seatbelt snugly fastened, Michiru held onto the door's handle with both hands.

To make matters worse, Kurou was chatting up a storm in her ear. "I was wondering how that flightless brat was going to get around as a reaper."

Michiru turned to the tiny reaper on her shoulder. "What are you saying...?"

Kurou scowled. "I was saying, someone taught that brat to rip through to the outer edge of the spirit realm to travel."

Michiru blinked, a tad confused. "O-oh..." It was somewhat difficult keeping track of the conversation with Chika hooting and howling in the back seat.

Bekko suddenly shouted, "Chika! Will you _**Shut the Fuck Up**_? I am trying to drive here!"

Startled silence abruptly descended.

Behind the driver's seat, with his mouth hanging open, Chika stared wide-eyed at Bekko.

On the opposite side, Shito's eyes were equally wide, though his mouth was closed.

Between them, Koyomi's sleepy muttering suddenly became loud and clear. "Of course I like boobs."

~ ZL ~

When Michiru climbed out of Koyomi's Toyota at the back entrance of the dorm, her knees tried to collapse out from under her.

Shito caught her under the arm and kept her from falling. "Kita...?"

Michiru blinked at the gravel drive she'd nearly fallen onto, and realized that she'd very nearly passed out. She grabbed onto the car door and struggled to stand. "Oh... Sorry, Shito. I'm just tired, I guess..."

His deep red eyes narrowed, Shito slowly released her arm, but kept his hand out, poised to grab her again. "Ectoplasmic weapons draw from one's life force; one's soul, and your scythe is quite large, so it is unsurprising that you're exhausted."

Michiru turned and gave Shito a tired smile. "Yeah, I guess so."

Gravel crunched and Bekko literally appeared behind Shito's shoulder. "Actually, Miss Kita's scythe doesn't merely draw from her soul."

Shito stiffened but otherwise didn't acknowledge Bekko's all too close presence.

Bekko's lips twisted into a sour smile that didn't reach his half-lidded eyes. "Miss Kita's scythe is a literal manifestation of her soul." He nodded at Michiru. "You're exhaustion is due to the fact that because you don't have a reaper's core just yet, so it took shape using your human soul."

Chika tromped around to the front of the car and leaned an elbow on the hood. "So? Isn't that what _our_ ectoplasmic weapons are? Extensions of our souls?"

Bekko's gaze slid to Chika. "Not quite... However, the main difference is that your body is in a state of permanent stasis. Even if you drain yourself practically to nothing, it won't kill you. In fact, it won't even stop you from fighting. It'll merely shut your conscious mind down until your soul recovers enough to bring you back to consciousness again."

Shito glanced at Bekko. "It can't kill us because we're already dead."

Bekko's eyes closed and his lips curved upward in a cheery smile. "Correct!"

Shito looked back at Michiru. "But Kita isn't."

Bekko's smile didn't change one bit. "Also correct."

Chika straightened, his yellow eyes widening. "Wait... You're saying that using that scythe could _kill_ Michiru?"

"Correct again!" Bekko's smile abruptly evaporated and his watery blue eyes opened halfway. "That scythe is not meant to be used by a mortal human. In fact..." Bekko's gaze narrowed on Michiru. "I'm rather surprised that she was able to even bring it forth."

Michiru was too tired to even think about all this, and most definitely too tired to talk about it. She was not looking forward to getting her exhausted body to climb up all those stairs to her room on the third floor. To that end, she decided that she was too tired to be nice about it either. Michiru pushed past the three guys on wobbly legs. "Good night, everyone."

Shito frowned after her, but said nothing.

Chika however, caught her under the arm and helped her up the back steps and through the heavy back door. "You gonna make it up to your room?"

Michiru dragged her feet across the frayed carpet, heading for the narrow back staircase with determination. "We'll see." She grabbed onto the banister and started the chore of climbing the stairs. She seriously considered crashing on the battered couch in the TV room on the second floor, rather than going all the way to her room on the third floor, but the fireplace was almost certainly unlit. Without the fire, that room had a nasty habit of being seriously cold at night, and breezy from all the cracks in the windows.

Behind her, Chika groaned. "Don't take this the wrong way, but..." A strong arm caught Michiru around the shoulders then another one scooped her legs out from under her. A single breath later, Chika started up the stairs with Michiru cradled against his chest. "Watching you trying to climb the stairs is making _me_ tired."

Michiru looked up at Chika's sharp jaw line in surprise. "Chika...?"

Chika scowled. "Just... Shut up and let me do this for you. Okay?" He glanced down at her. "And don't look so happy about it!"

Michiru covered her smiling lips. Chika could be so sweet at times.

~ ZL ~

The following morning Michiru somehow managed to peel her eyes open, and get herself out of bed. She also somehow managed to drag her clothes on for school, but the sight that met her in her mirror was not encouraging.

She'd suspected that her itchy eyes were bloodshot, which indeed they were, but the deep dark circles that lay under them was a bit alarming. With a wince, Michiru brushed her hair and regretted the fact that she'd never taken the time to learn how to apply even the basics of make-up to hide the circles, or the somewhat gray cast to her face.

Michiru grabbed her coat, and briefcase with her homework, and looked around for the tiny reaper, but didn't see him. She was pretty sure he'd fallen asleep with her last night, but he hadn't been with her when she awoke. _Maybe he went down to breakfast?_ With a shrug, she headed down to the dorm's dining room for breakfast.

The boys weren't in the dining room, but Koyomi was at the stove stirring a big pot of heavily buttered oatmeal.

Michiru set her coat on the back of a battered chair and went to the counter for a bowl of the steaming cereal. "Good morning, Koyomi."

"Good morning Michiru!" Koyomi turned with a bright smile, a carton of cream in her hand. "Cream and sugar on your oatmeal...?" She blinked at Michiru. Her eyes widened, then narrowed sharply.

Michiru did her best to deliver a sunny smile. "Yes, please, Koyomi."

Koyomi poured a more than generous portion of cream over the cereal. "As soon as you're finished, come back and get a second bowl."

Michiru shook her head. "I won't have time."

"After you finish your second bowl-" Koyomi's voice abruptly deepened and her eyes shifted in color from brown to blue, betraying the fact that Yomi had surfaced from within Koyomi. "-You will get your ass back into bed."

Michiru blinked, wide-eyed. "What...?"

Koyomi nodded firmly and began sprinkling sugar on Michiru's oatmeal. "I'll call the school and tell them that you're taking a rest-day."

Michiru's mouth dropped open. "But...?"

Koyomi abruptly pulled out a shiny ladle of rather large proportions, though Michiru had no clue where she'd been hiding it, and pointed it at Michiru. "No buts! You are spending the day in bed. You got me?"

Michiru raised her hands in surrender. "Yes, ma'am!"

"Good." Koyomi nodded once more. "Now, go eat, and don't forget to come back for another bowl."

Michiru took her bowl of oatmeal, heavily creamed and practically crystallized with sugar, and carried it back to the table to sit with her back to the door. _Do I really look_ that _bad?_ She stuck a spoonful in her mouth and discovered that not only was it unreasonably delicious, she was far hungrier than she'd thought. She began to shovel the rest of the warm, sweet, creamy cereal into her mouth with all due haste.

Chika clomped into the dining room. "Morning Michiru. Morning Koyomi!"

With a cheery smile, Koyomi set a plate of steak and scrambled eggs on the counter for him. "I made the steak nice and rare for you."

Chika lifted the plate with a broad smile. "Awesome!"

Koyomi chuckled. "And your steak is even rarer, Shito!"

Michiru nearly choked on her oatmeal. She hadn't realized that Shito had come into the room - again.

Both boys set their plates on the table across from Michiru, pulled out chairs, then froze where they were, standing by their chairs.

Michiru looked up at them.

Chika's eyes were wide and his mouth slightly open.

Shito's eyed were narrowed in a glare.

Michiru's eyes widened. "What...?"

Rather than say a single word both boys looked over at Koyomi.

Koyomi waved a hand. "Oh, yeah, Michiru is going back to bed. I'm calling the school for her."

Michiru frowned slightly. "Do I really look that bad?"

Shito shot Michiru an annoyed glare and neatly sat down. "Yes."

Chika scowled. "You look like crap warmed over." He flopped down into his chair.

Shito pulled a teakwood box from his jacket pocket. "If Koyomi hadn't already decided to send you back to bed, I would have done so myself." He withdrew a pair of red chopsticks, and a silver knife from it and began to eat.

Tall, brawny Aso strolled into the room with a huge yawn. "What's this about going back to bed?"

Chika waved his fork in Michiru's direction. "Michiru. She looks like serious crap."

Naturally, Aso had to stop by Michiru's chair and lean over to peer into her face at point-blank range. His brows lifted. "Wow... I see what you mean." He then wandered over to the counter to get his helping of steak and scrambled eggs.

Michiru looked away and stuck out her bottom lip. "I'm not _that_ bad."

Shito, Chika, and Koyomi spoke in unison. "Yes, you _are._ "

Bekko suddenly stepped into the dining room. He was dressed in his customary gray slacks, and white dress shirt, though the black ribbon he wore as a tie was missing, and the shirt buttons were open at his throat. "Ah... I presume we're talking about Miss Kita?"

Michiru stared at the ferryman in some surprise. Apparently he'd stayed the night instead of going back to the office.

Bekko stepped closer to frown at Michiru then winced. "Ah... I thought this might happen."

Michiru's brows lifted. " _What_ might happen?"

Bekko wandered over to the counter to receive a bowl of oatmeal from Koyomi. "Miss Kita, might I suggest _not_ using that scythe again, if at all possible?"

Michiru frowned at Bekko. "My scythe...?"

Bekko strolled over to the table and sat down right next to her. He gave her a cheery smile. "You _did_ look in the mirror this morning, did you not?"

Michiru blinked. "I'm just a little tired."

Bekko nodded. "You should be, seeing as that scythe ate a healthy portion of your mortal _life_." He continued to smile, but his watery blue gaze narrowed. "Just how much did you use it last night?"

Michiru tilted her head to think. "Well there were the zombies while I was at the car, then Shiba on the roof..."

Chika went wide-eyed and stiffened in his chair. "Wait... _You_ took out zombies? How many?"

Michiru frowned in thought. "I'm not sure. Maybe a dozen?" Actually, she was pretty sure it was more than that, but she didn't want to step all over Chika's or Shito's pride as zombie hunters.

Chika's mouth fell open. "A dozen...? You took out _a dozen_ zombies - _by yourself?!_ "

Bekko snorted over his oatmeal. "Pity they won't count toward your debt."

Shito shot a glare at the ferryman.

Chika lunged up onto his feet, his chair scooting back with a horrendous screech. He slammed his hands on the rickety table and bared his over-long teeth at the ferryman. "Why the hell _not_?! Michiru is a Z-Loan agent too, right?"

Bekko smiled at the boys. "Miss Kita is indeed a Z-Loan agent. However, that scythe is a reaper weapon. That makes it a reaper collection, not Z-Loan collection."

Chika turned to glare Michiru and pointed a long finger at her. " _Never_ take out another zombie with that thing- _ever_! You hear me?"

Shito shot an annoyed glare at Chika then frowned at Michiru. "Except as an absolute last resort to save your own life."

Chika shook his finger at Michiru. "And that's only if _we_ aren't there to save you! Got it?"

Michiru stared wide-eyed at the angry boys, then turned to look at Bekko's rather smug smile. A cold bolt of annoyance went through her. She couldn't help but feel that Bekko had said those things on purpose, just to make sure the boys wouldn't let her use her scythe.

Bekko abruptly lost his smile. "Miss Kita, please understand our concern. A reaper's scythe is _not_ supposed to be used by a mortal human. It uses far more power than a human soul can handle. The drain _will_ kill you."

Suddenly Michiru couldn't decide if she should be angry that Kurou had been right about Bekko not wanting a new reaper taking out zombies in his area, or pleased that Bekko actually wanted her to stay alive.

Koyomi strode over to set another bowl of steaming, sugar-coated, and cream-laden oatmeal in front of Michiru. "Eat up then back to bed." She pointed her ladle at the boys. "You two - school! Or you'll be late."

Both boys grabbed their coats and headed for the door.

At the doorway, Shito nodded toward Michiru then strode out.

Chika waved at the doorway. "See you after school!" He took off down the hall, shouting. "Shito, you ass! Wait up!"

Michiru called out. "Have a good day!" She then set to eating her second bowl of oatmeal with impressive speed.

"You may as well stay home from work tonight as well, Miss Kita." Bekko leaned back in his chair with a slight smile. "I prefer you well-rested and alert when hunting zombies. Okay?"

Michiru stuffed the last spoonful of cereal in her mouth and sat back. "But I don't feel _that_ tired?" However, her mouth suddenly opened to release a huge yawn. She slapped her hands over her mouth in embarrassment. "Err... Excuse me."

Koyomi strode over and picked up Michiru's empty bowl. She patted Michiru on the head. "Go to sleep. I'll check on you at lunch. Okay?"

Michiru stood and collected her coat and briefcase. "Um, then good-night, I guess?"

Bekko nodded. "Sleep well."

Michiru dragged her feet all the way back upstairs to her room. _Do I really need a whole day off just to sleep?_ She unlocked her door, and stepped into the room. Her bed brass bed with its patchwork comforter and fluffy pillows actually looked _very_ inviting.

"Hmm... Maybe I _do_ need a little more sleep?" She hung up her coat then lit a paper-wrapped fire-log in the fireplace and added a few more actual logs. In a matter of minutes, the room was warm enough to change from her uniform back into her ruffled flannel nightgown.

After hanging her uniform back on the pole that served as a closet, Michiru set her phone on the corner of her dresser. She then crawled under the heavy down comforter of her bed. Only seconds later, her eyes drifted closed.

~ * ~ 


	19. The END

**~ Nineteen ~**

An annoying sound entered Michiru's blissful sleep. It continued, tearing apart her mildly troubling dream of floating in front of monstrous door that was sitting on clouds.

Michiru opened her eyes to a bedroom full of gray shadows, and the sound of her cell phone jangling out the theme music to a horror-comedy movie. Frowning in sleepy annoyance, she reached over to take the phone off her dresser and squinted blearily at the cover to see who was calling her.

In that moment the music stopped. However, blinking in red on the cover of her phone was the name; Shiba.

Suddenly, Michiru was wide awake. _Shiba...?!_ It actually took her several heartbeats to recall that she'd given him her number. "What is Shiba calling _me_ for?"

The phone abruptly began playing the same horror movie tune.

Surprised, her hands jerked hard. The phone flipped right out of her grasp to land on the comforter. She grabbed for it and pressed the green button to accept the call. With trembling fingers she pressed it to her ear. "H-hello?"

"Michiru-chan!" The voice was cheerful, and definitely Shiba's.

Michiru frowned. Shiba was acting like he _hadn't_ tried to cut her in half last night. She folded her knees up, and pulled her blanket up to her chin. "Uh... H-hi, Shiba. W-what's up?" She simply couldn't think of any other way to respond.

"Yeah, hi. I was wondering... You know that reaper we ran into last night?" Shiba's voice remained cheerful, but a slender thread of tension stiffened his words. "You wouldn't happen to know who that guy was, would you?"

Michiru blinked. _Reaper...?_ "You mean, Mr. Inu?"

Shiba sighed as though coming to some sort of conclusion. "Oh... Is that his name? So, do you happen to know why he's after me?"

Michiru tilted her head. Shiba didn't know...? "Ah... He's your partner."

There was a moment of silence, then Shiba spoke without a trace of humor in his tone. "My...what?"

"Your partner. Reapers are supposed to work in pairs." She eyed the fire still cheerfully blazing away in her fireplace. She'd need to add another log in a few hours.

Shiba abruptly laughed. "No, no, no! Michiru-chan, I'm a zombie, remember? Reapers _hunt_ our kind. They don't _work_ with them."

Michiru frowned. "But you're _not_ a zombie anymore. At least, not on the inside. I don't know if it changed you on the outside too..."

"Wait! Wait! Wait a minute here." Shiba's voice went dead cold. "What do you mean I'm not a zombie anymore?"

Michiru tilted her head the other way. "You manifested into a reaper last night. Didn't you notice?"

Silence.

More silence.

"Michiru-chan, if this is supposed to be some sort of joke, it's not funny."

Michiru heaved a sigh. "I guess they _didn't_ tell you."

"Michiru..." Shiba sucked in an audible breath and sighed it back out. "Michiru-chan, who are _they_ , and _what_ were they supposed to tell me?"

"Well..." Michiru nibbled on her bottom lip. "I don't really know who _they_ are, but someone was supposed to tell you... You know that reaper core you stole?"

"The one that lets me use a scythe, right?" Shiba chuckled briefly. "Yeah, I know it _very_ well."

Michiru plucked at her comforter. "Well, it seems that you kept it too long and it became _your_ core."

"Michiru-chan..." He spoke with exaggerated patience. "It became _my_ core the moment I took it."

Michiru winced. Shiba was so difficult to talk to! "No, no, no... You don't understand. The core merged with your soul, or rather, it _took over_ your soul, and now you don't have a soul, you have a core - _that_ core. That's why you became a reaper, and why it changed colors."

"Wait... My core had a _color_?"

Michiru nodded then abruptly realized that Shiba couldn't see it. "Yes, it used to be violet; Mr. Kurou's color, but now it's _your_ color; yellow."

"Who's Mr. Kurou?"

Michiru sighed. "You probably know him as Zarame-san, Mr. Sugar Candy. That's just a nick-name, not his real name."

"So, that reaper's real name is Kurou?"

Michiru winced and tugged on her left forelock. "Actually, no, but its close."

"You know... Never mind! Anyway! Are you _serious_ about me being a reaper?"

Michiru released a sigh of relief. _Finally, he gets it!_ "Yes. You're fully a reaper."

"And this other reaper... This Mr. Inu, he's supposed to be my _partner_ , and _that's_ why he's after me?"

"Yes. I'm pretty sure he just wants to take you to his territory which is where you'll be working, and train you on how to collect zombies."

Shiba snorted. "I don't think I'll need much training for killing zombies."

Michiru frowned. "Actually, I'm pretty sure there's more to it than just killing them, Shiba, such as finding the ones about to rise. As far as I know, they don't work from the Akashic Record database like Z-Loan does."

Shiba abruptly laughed. "Pity I don't have _your_ eyes, right Michiru-chan? Finding zombies to kill would be so much easier, ya know?"

Michiru shrugged. "That's just because you weren't _born_ a reaper, you were _made_ one. Normal reapers have eye like mine."

Silence...

"Michiru, that kind of sounds like you're telling me that _you_ are a reaper."

 _Oh crap...!_ Michiru waved her free hand at her empty bedroom. "Oh no, I'm not one yet! I won't be a reaper until I die."

Silence.

"Michiru-chan, are you telling me that _you_ were born a reaper?"

"Um..." Michiru chuckled weakly. "Yeah, that's why I can see zombies, and people-" She swallowed hard. "-About to die."

"But you're _not_ one yet?"

Michiru shook her head hard. "I won't be a full reaper until after I die. That's when my soul will manifest into a reaper's core."

"Then how come you had a _scythe_ last night?"

Michiru winced. "Er... Well? I'm kind of close to manifesting, so I can get to it, but I'm really not supposed to use it because I don't actually have a core yet."

"Kind of close...? Didn't you just say it won't happen until you die?"

"Well, being around released zombies gave me a little too much dark matter, so... Yeah. I'm a bit closer to manifesting than I should be. But I've got that under control now! So... So don't worry! I won't become a reaper until I actually die!"

"Dark matter, is it...?" Shiba sighed heavily. "This conversation is going further and further off the deep end... Anyway...! Michiru-chan?"

"Uh... Yes?"

"Did you ever find out who made those _shikigami_ -the paper zombies- and why they're after me?"

"Oh! Yes! Mr. Inu had those made. They're used for reaper training, but Mr. Inu was using them to bring your core up to manifestation, which it did last night."

"And I honestly thought this conversation couldn't possibly get any weirder... Okay! So, Michiru, just _how_ did those paper things bring my..." He cleared his throat briefly. "My core up to... What did you call it? Manifestation?"

Michiru switched the phone to her right ear. Her left was going numb. "The paper zombies were full of dark matter. Once your core got enough dark matter it manifested, making you a reaper."

"Dark matter again, huh... _Hmm_..." Shiba chuckled, but it was a chilling sound. "And this, Mr. Inu... He's the one behind all this?" Shiba's voice abruptly dropped to a low growl. "Sounds to me like I ought to have a little _chat_ with this Inu guy."

"Well, he _is_ supposed to be your partner, so..."

"One last question."

"Yes?"

Shiba's voice abruptly turned cheerful. " _Who_ knew I was going to become a reaper?"

Michiru frowned, thinking. "Well, nobody knew until I asked Mr. Kurou about the paper zombies, right after I saw you, so..."

"And he told you that I was being set up to go reaper, then you told everybody else, I assume?"

"Well... Yeah."

"Michiru-chan, you're saying _everybody_ knew that I was going to be a reaper? Chika-chan, Shito, you, that ferryman...?" His voice climbed until he was shouting from her phone. "And _nobody_ said anything _to me_?!"

Michiru hunched down against her headboard. Shiba was clearly getting upset. "Well, it's not as if they _could_ have told you...?" Or _would_ have told him.

" _You_ could have. You had my cell number."

Michiru shrunk further down and pulled her covers up to her nose. "I didn't think it was going to happen the next day- err, night!" Well, Kurou suspected that it might, but that wasn't something she wanted to admit to Shiba.

Shiba sighed out a huge breath. "Okay, fine. I understand. You didn't have enough time to tell me."

Michiru lunged up from under her covers. "I didn't! I really, really didn't!"

"Yes, yes, fine. I forgive you."

Michiru breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

"Anyway! I am _definitely_ going to have a little _talk_ with this so-called _partner_ of mine." His tone suddenly turned cheery. "Oh, speak of the devil...! Well, got'ta go, Michiru-chan! Talk to you _real soon!_ "

The phone beeped, signaling that the connection had ended.

Michiru looked at her phone and bit down on her bottom lip. Somehow, Shiba's last words sounded vaguely...threatening. She rolled her eyes. What was she thinking? Shiba _always_ sounded threatening.

She looked at the time on her phone; two-twenty-seven PM. She had nearly two and a half hours more of blissful peace and quiet until five. That's when the school let out and people would come back to the dorm. That was, if they didn't go straight to the Z-Loan office. If they went straight there, the dorm would be empty until after seven.

She slid down under her covers and closed her eyes. She sincerely hoped she'd actually be able to sleep until seven, but she seriously doubted she'd get so lucky.

~ ZL ~

A soft voice whispered near Michiru's ear. "Michiru-chan. Michiru-chan, wakey-wakey!"

Michiru opened her bleary eyes. "Huh...?" The sun had gone down, filling the room with deep shadows. The only light came from the embers in her fireplace. However, that was more than enough to see that someone was sitting in the chair by her bedside. "Who...?"

That someone leaned closer and Shiba smiled down at her. "Hello, Michiru chan."

Michiru was suddenly very wide awake. "Sh-Shiba?" What was _he_ doing in her bedroom?

Shiba set both elbows on her bed and pushed back the overlong bangs of his hair. "So... Is it true that you're a reaper?" His smile remained the same, but his gaze narrowed.

Her heart racing in her chest, Michiru pushed to sit up against her headboard, clutching her blankets to her chin. "Y-yes, b-but n-not until I die."

Shiba leaned closer. "But if you die, you'll definitely be a reaper. You're sure?"

Michiru frowned in confusion. "Um... Yes?"

Shiba abruptly sat up to flop back in the chair, his arms dropping to his sides. He sighed heavily and stared up at the cracked ceiling. "Well, you were right. That reaper bastard told me that I really am a reaper, and that he _is_ supposed to be my partner."

Michiru sat up little straighter, and tried not to stare. Without her glasses on, the black ring around Shiba's throat marking him as a walking corpse was plainly visible. "O-okay...?"

Shiba lunged forward to stare hard at her. "I don't need a _partner_."

Michiru leaned away from him. It was pretty obvious to anyone that knew Shiba that the only person he even remotely liked being with was Chika. Though calling that 'liking' was a bit of a stretch.

Shiba looked away, his lips curled back in open disgust. "I don't need _anyone_ giving me orders."

Michiru plucked at the blankets. "Um... I don't think reapers get much say in who their partners are."

Shiba abruptly stood and smiled. "Actually! That bastard told me that if I could find another reaper willing to be my partner, he'd give up on me."

Michiru tilted her head and frowned. "But the only other reaper I know of is Mr. Kurou, and he already has a partner." _Me._

Shiba lifted a finger and grinned broadly. "You're forgetting one more."

Michiru looked to the side, thinking. "No, I don't think so..." But then, she simply didn't know any other reapers.

Shiba abruptly leaned over the bed, his face close enough for a kiss. "You."

"Huh?" Michiru's eyes widened drastically. "Me?! B-but I'm _not_ a reaper! Not yet!"

Shiba smiled and nodded "That's right - not _yet_." He winked. "But we can fix that, right?"

Michiru's blood turned to ice. "What?"

"Well, come on then...!" Shiba grabbed Michiru by the right wrist and stood up to drag her out from under the covers then off the bed.

"Shiba...!?" Dressed in only a ruffled flannel nightgown, the room was rather chilly, and the floor icy cold under her bare feet. She winced, lifting one foot, then the other. "Shiba, wait...!" She turned to reach for her bathrobe lying across the foot of her bed.

Shiba's grip on her right wrist stopped her. "Don't bother. It's not like you're going to need it."

Michiru turned to look at Shiba. "What...?"

Black smoke formed in Shiba's other hand which quickly materialized into Shiba's scythe. "Let's take a quick trip to the roof, shall we?" He tipped the scythe to slash a tear in thin air, revealing the gray mist of the spirit world.

Suddenly terrified, Michiru grabbed onto Shiba's hand in an attempt to pry his fingers off of her wrist. "Shiba, I don't know what you're planning, but...!"

Shiba ignored her and strode for the tear, dragging Michiru behind him.

Two steps later, Michiru was walking in the gray mist of the spirit plane. Two more steps and Shiba hauled her through yet another tear and out into the freezing night. To her horror, Michiru realized that she was standing on the narrow spine of the steeply slanted, roof of the dorm. One step to either the left or the right, and she'd slide right down the antique slate shingles and off the edge to the far too distant ground.

Michiru opened her mouth to scream, but not a sound came out of her. She was literally too scared to scream.

Shiba pushed her to the very edge of the roof. From there, it was a straight drop to the stone-littered graveyard eight stories below. He gave her a broad grin. "Now then, all you have to do is fall and die. Once you're a reaper, _you_ can be my partner. Simple, right?"

Her nightgown fluttering in the chilly wind, Michiru clutched her hands together and shook her head. "Wrong!"

Shiba frowned. "I thought you said you'll be a reaper once you die?"

Michiru shivered. "I will, but I can't be your partner!"

"Michiru!" The voice came from below - _far_ below.

Michiru turned to look down.

Chika stared up at her wide-eyed. "What the hell are you doing up there?!"

Shito stepped out of the shadows and looked up just as wide-eyed as Chika. "Michiru?"

Shiba stepped close behind Michiru and looked over her shoulder. "Oh hi, Chika-chan! I'll be with you in just a minute!" He turned to smile at Michiru. "I just need Michiru-chan to die first."

Michiru turned to face Shiba. "Shiba, I can't be your partner because _I already have a partner!_ "

Shiba's smile evaporated. "What? Who?"

The sound of flapping cloth and massive wings was suddenly loud. Black feathers floated on the wind. "Me." On the roof's spine, ten steps behind Shiba, a swirl of darkness and wind formed into Kurou, his crooked scythe the color of clotted blood in hand, and his pitch-black wings upraised. " _I_ am Michiru's partner, you stupid brat."

Shiba turned to Michiru. "What did he say?"

Michiru sighed. " _He's_ my partner."

Shiba frowned at Kurou. " _That_ guy?" He turned to frown at Michiru. "No way!"

Michiru nodded and smiled just a little.

Shiba set his hands on his narrow hips. "How in hell did _that_ happen?"

Michiru shrugged. "I think it was decided before I was born."

Shiba smiled. "Well, in that case..." He nodded at the reaper on the roof. "Since I already took your core, I might as well take your partner too." Without looking back, he slammed his hand hard into Michiru's chest.

Michiru tipped backward _and fell._

Kurou dove off the roof, arms outstretched, his black wings blotting out the night sky.

Even so, Michiru knew that he wouldn't reach her in time. The fall just wasn't far enough. Far enough to kill her, yes, but not nearly far enough to give him time to get to her before she broke on the grave stones below.

But she was _not_ ready to die!

Suddenly a memory screamed across her mind. _"Just as you were born with a scythe, you were also born with wings_."

Michiru didn't have the time to figure out how to bring out her wings, so she reached into her heart for her scythe and hoped for a miracle. The purple-violet scythe swept out of her body, gracefully curved and beautiful, her deadly dance partner.

Suddenly her balance became centered and her body light. She twisted to face the swiftly approaching ground. There was a sound of wind among flapping cloth. A cloud of deep violet-black feather spilled around her. She stopped falling, and instead floated gently downward in a slow drifting glide.

But it was tiring, so, so tiring.

On the ground below her, both boys ran to meet her, their eyes wide.

She reached out to catch hold of the boys' hands and her bare toes touched the frosted grass. Her scythe abruptly evaporated in her grasp and a cloud of deep violet feathers burst around her. However, she just didn't have the strength to stand. Her knees buckled under her.

Shito and Chika caught her by the arms before she could fall.

She smiled at them in gratitude, but all too quickly, darkness crashed over her, and she knew nothing more.

~ ZL ~

Michiru abruptly sat up in her bed. Morning sunlight spilled through her aged red curtains. She frowned. "A dream...?"

Kurou, in his doll-sized form dug his way out from under her comforter. "Not a dream."

Michiru frowned down at the tiny reaper. "Then Shiba really did...?"

"Push you off the roof?" The tiny reaper nodded. "Yes."

"Then I really did...?"

"Call forth your wings?" The reaper climbed up onto her knee. "Yes."

Michiru frowned, a little disappointed. "I never saw them. I saw feathers, but not the wings themselves."

Kurou scowled. "Good! _Those_ you are not to call on _ever again!_ "

Michiru's eyes widened. "Why not?"

The tiny reaper stood up to shout at her. "Because in the few seconds they existed, they damned near drained your mortal life dry!"

Michiru shrank back. "But... But I feel fine!"

"And so you should!" The reaper folded his hypothetical arms across his barely existent chest. "You've been out cold for the past six days."

Michiru's mouth fell open. "Six _days_...?!" Her bladder took that moment to suddenly insist that it needed attention - _immediately_. Michiru threw the covers off and dashed out of her room to run to the toilet.

She passed Koyomi in the hallway.

The full-figured woman turned sharply to look after her. "Michiru...?"

Michiru shouted back to her without pausing in her mad dash. "Toilet!"

~ ZL ~

When Michiru went down to breakfast in the dining room an hour later, it seemed that everyone who had anything at all to do with Z-Loan was also there for breakfast. In addition to all the residents of the dorm; Chika, Shito, Aso, and Koyomi, Shuuji, Zen and Toko were also present. Seated on the other side of the crowded trestle table was Bekko, Yuuta, Otsu Sawatari the police forensics officer, and Sougiya the Buddhist undertaker. Even Miss Shimotsuki, the Z-Loan chairman and Lyca the werewolf were there.

Michiru was too busy eating to care. She was so, so hungry! However that didn't stop her from listening as they filled her in as to what happened after.

Apparently, shortly after she'd passed out in the boys' arms, the other reaper, Shiba's partner appeared. A fight then broke out between the three reapers, but no one had any idea what it was about because no one could understand them.

Well, Shiba they could have understood, but being up on the roof, he was too far away to really make out anything beyond the fact that he was royally pissed off that Michiru hadn't died.

Anyway, the fight had ended with Shiba getting punched out cold by the other reaper then carried off into the night.

Kurou had then disappeared back into his tiny form, and that had pretty much been that.

Well, except for the fact that no one had been able to wake Michiru up. It had been debated as to whether or not she should be sent to the hospital, but Miss Shimotsuki, the tiny Z-Loan chairman had decided against it.

So the main question floating around was; where had Shiba and that reaper gone?

Michiru turned to the tiny reaper sitting next to her tea cup.

The reaper shrugged. "The brat was taken back to Inu's territory."

Michiru swallowed what was in her mouth. "Oh, so Shiba's in Hokkaido, now?"

The tiny reaper nodded.

There was a collective release of held breaths.

Chika leaned forward on the table. His yellow gaze troubled. "Then, Shiba's gone for good?"

Shito snorted. "One can hope."

A delicate tea cup held aloft in her tiny hand, Miss Shimotsuki, tilted her head, her long silver hair sweeping across her shoulders. "Even by travelling through the spirit world, it would still take a great deal of time to reach here from Hokkaido."

Koyomi nodded, her eyes bright blue with Yomi's presence. "At least two weeks."

Kurou nodded. "And that's _if_ the brat escapes his partner's leash."

Michiru tilted her head at the tiny reaper. "Leash...?"

Kurou nodded. "Inu swore he'd put a soul-chain on the brat to keep control of him."

Michiru frowned. "What's a soul-chain?"

Bekko abruptly rose to his feet, the chair legs screeching on the wooden floor. "Well then, I guess this story has a happy ending after all."

Aso stood up to tower over everyone in the room. He grinned broadly. "At least for the next two weeks!"

Light laughter, and a few comments on the time wove in and out of the sound of chairs scraping against the floor. People began to shuffle out of the dining room to go to work, to school, or wherever.

In the meantime, Michiru finally finished her third bowl of oatmeal.

Bekko abruptly leaned over her shoulder. "I'm glad you're still with us, Miss Kita."

Michiru looked up at him and smiled. "I am too."

Bekko nodded. "Good. Let's keep it that way, shall we?"

Michiru nodded as well. "I'll do my best."

Bekko patted her shoulder and stepped away. At the doorway he stopped. "I'm counting on you to be around for quite some time." He looked at her, his watery blue eyes surprisingly sharp behind his glasses. "Do we have a deal?"

Michiru's smile disappeared, but she nodded firmly. "We do."

Bekko smiled and his gaze disappeared behind the glare of light on his glasses. "Good." He stepped out of the room.

Koyomi abruptly rushed to Michiru's side with a cloth-wrapped box. "You better hurry of you want to get to school on time!"

"Yes!" Michiru lunged out of her chair and struggled into her coat. "Thank you!" She grabbed the box and her book bag then raced down the hall and out for the dorm for the school.

At the wrought iron gates of the school, the boys were waiting. A zombie hunt was scheduled for immediately after school.

Michiru agreed to meet with them in the graveyard after school to do her part to assist them. After all, they still had a loan to pay off - a Zombie-Loan.

~ End ~


End file.
